Brussels: Europe and the Arabs

More than two-thirds of EU residents (68%) owned their homes in 2024, a slight decrease from 69% in 2023. The remaining 32% lived in rented accommodation, an increase from 31% the previous year. This information comes from Eurostat, the European statistical office in Brussels. The highest homeownership rate was recorded in Romania (94%), followed by Slovakia (93%), Hungary (92%), and Croatia.

Home ownership was prevalent in all EU countries except Germany, where renting was the most common, affecting 53% of the population. Austria followed (46%), then Denmark (39%), and France and Luxembourg.

Amidst the cold weather affecting EU countries, Eurostat data also revealed that in 2024, 9.2% of EU residents lacked adequate heating in their homes. Compared to 2023, this represents an improvement of 1.4 percentage points.

The highest percentage of people unable to adequately heat their homes were recorded in Bulgaria and Greece (19.0% each), followed by Lithuania (18.0%), and then Spain (17.5%).

In contrast, Finland (2.7%), Poland and Slovenia (3.3% each), and Estonia and Luxembourg (3.6% each) recorded the lowest percentages.