Figures from Statistics Netherlands show that young people in the Netherlands are continuing to live with their parents longer and longer. It’s grown by almost a year since 2012 and is continuing to rise. This was reported by NOS.
In 2017 the average was 23.5 years old. Students leave home slightly later at 23.8 years old. Fewer students are leaving home because of Dutch student loans in 2015 – the loan system meant that it didn’t matter if you lived at home or in a student house, so naturally, people wanted to stay at home to save some money. I too know many people who did this.
Rent is also on the up continuously (but we all moan about this enough on DR as it is).
Overall, in 2012 76.4% of 19 year olds were living with their parents. In 2017, this had increased to 79.4%.
But why?
It’s not hard to work out, but everything is a lot more expensive (houses and rent), student fees are higher and there are fewer grants. Getting a mortgage is harder and young people just have less disposable income in general. This is what is making people leave home later and later.
Young people are also worried about loans, the interest on these loans and keeping a stable job. The ‘adulting’ – the house, marriage and children are now becoming more normal for people in their 30s, whereas previously it was common to do in your 20s.
This is certainly true for my situation, I’m only going to my first wedding this year (we are all 25), only 1 of my friends is actually a homeowner, I only know a couple of people in their chosen actual career and I have many friends who over the age of 25 and are still living at home. In comparison to our parents, this is late and times are changing. Hopefully, this changes as it’s not helping anyone (and don’t get me started on the increase of poor mental health of the younger population).
Any thoughts? Let us know in the comments.
