Eurostat data for 2025 show 62.3% of Croatians aged 25–34 live with their parents, and the OECD points to costly housing and a small rental market.
Croatia has the highest share of young adults living with their parents in the European Union, according to Croatia Week, citing new Eurostat figures. In 2025, 62.3% of people aged 25 to 34 in Croatia lived in the parental household, against an EU average of 30.1%. Greece was second with 56.3% and Slovakia third with 54.3%. Poland stood at 51% and Italy at 50.7%. The housing market is named as one of the main factors. Croatia Week reports that, in its 2026 Economic Survey of Croatia, the OECD identifies access to affordable housing as a significant challenge for young people, with limited options for both renting and buying. Only 3.2% of the population lives in privately rented or subsidised rental housing, compared with an OECD average of 25%, which points to an underdeveloped long-term rental market. Regional differences are large. According to the OECD, as cited by Croatia Week, buying a median-priced 75-square-metre apartment in Split-Dalmatia or Dubrovnik-Neretva County takes the equivalent of 18 to 19 years of net disposable income. Property prices in larger cities and popular coastal areas are described as high relative to earnings. A separate Eurostat indicator shows that young people in Croatia leave the parental home at an average age of 31.5, the highest in the EU, where the average is 26.3. Eurostat lists labour market conditions, cultural norms, relationships and housing costs among the factors that affect when young people move out.