Almost three quarters of all Slovaks aged 18-34 years old still live with their parents, according to the most recent Eurostat data. The average age at which young Slovak adults leave their parent’s house is now 31 years, making it almost the highest age within the European Union.
“A higher average age for when young adults leave home occurs only in Croatia. Conversely, young Swedes, Danes, and Finns leave home much earlier; on average around the age of 20”, said Poštová Banka analyst Eva Sadovská. One of the key reasons for this situation, according to Sadovská, is the fact that rental market in Slovakia is small and poorly developed. Another reason given is the relatively high cost of real estate compared to the earnings of young people. “The average young Slovak adult can only afford to buy a 0.6 square metres of one apartment from their wages. Neither what they have saved, nor what their parents have saved up is typically enough to buy an apartment or a house. Subsequently, in most cases young Slovaks have no choice but to take out mortgages for durations of many decades”, added Sadovská.
The average age for the entire European Union for when young adults typically leave the family home is 26 years old. This puts young Slovak adults behind not only the rest of Europe for gaining independence; but also puts them behind their geographical neighbours “The average age at which young adults from Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary leave home ranges from 27 to 29 years old”, said Sadovská. On top of this, young Slovak males have a lower rate of leaving home compared to young Slovak females, with the Eurostat figures revealing the average age for women to leave their parents’ house is around 29.7 years; compared to 32 years for men.
The global credit crunch may also play a part in this problem according to the figures released, with unemployed young people often being unable to find work and obtain loans from banks after finishing their university education. “The large problem of youth unemployment in Slovakia cannot be overlooked. Out of all currently unemployed Slovaks, 170,000 of them are young adults, aged up to 34 years old; making approximately 42 percent of all those unemployed”, adds Eva Sadovská.
