Almost one-fifth (18.3%) of the population of the European Union (EU) reported that they suffered from noise coming from their neighbours or the street in 2018.
According to the EU statistical office (Eurostat), this percentage increased eight tenths compared to 2017, when it was 17.5%.
Unsurprisingly, this proportion is more than twice as high for people living in cities (24.1%) than for those in rural areas (11.0%).
Maltese, Germans and Dutch suffer most
Across the EU member states in 2018, over a quarter of the population reported experiencing problems with noise from their neighbours or the street in Malta (28.2%), Germany (27.8%) and the Netherlands (27.1%).
Next in the rankings were those living in Portugal (23.0%), Romania (20.1%), the United Kingdom (19.8%), Cyprus (19.6%), Greece and Luxembourg (both 19.3%).
At the opposite end of the scale, the lowest proportion was recorded in Croatia (8.0%), ahead of Hungary (8.5%), Estonia (8.6%), Ireland (9.4%) and Bulgaria (9.4%)
In Finland, 13.4% of the population reported that they suffered from noise from their neighbours or the street in 2018. However, the percentage has risen almost one point since the previous year (12.5%). In 2016 it was 12% and in 2015 it was 11.4%.
Young people and singles report more
According to Eurostat, the proportion of people that reported having experienced problems with neighbourhood noise tended to decrease in line with the number of persons in the household.
While almost 21.8% of single persons claimed to have been disturbed by this type of noise, noise affected 18.7% of two-adult households and only 16.2% of those households made up of three or more adults.
Similarly, more households without dependent children (19%) reported being affected than those with dependent children (17.2%).
The proportion of people protesting against noise is higher for single persons aged below 65 (it reaches 26.6%) than for those above 65 years old (15.7%).
