In 2018, there were almost 223 million households in the European Union (EU). Almost one third (65 million) of these households had children living in them, according to the latest numbers published by Eurostat.
Among the EU Member States, Ireland recorded the highest proportion of households with children (39%), ahead of Cyprus, Poland and Slovakia (all 36%) and Romania (35%). In contrast, the lowest shares were registered in Germany and Finland (both 22%), followed by Sweden (23%), Austria (25%) and Bulgaria (26%).
In the specific case of Finland, the country has a total of 2,677,100 households, according to Eurostat. However, of these, only 584,300 have children (21.8%).
- Total Number of households in Finland: 2,677,100
- Number of households with children: 584,300* (21.8%).
- Finnish households with 1 child: 252,200
- Finnish households with 2 children: 222,400
- Finnish households with 3 children or more: 109,600
*The result of the sum of the other numbers may seem not exact due to the rounding of amounts made by Eurostat.
Most households in Europe have only one child
At EU level, almost half of all households with children (47%, or 30.6 million households) consisted of only one child, while 40% of households (25.8 million) had two children, and 13% (8.5 million) three children or more. The shares of households with three or more children were highest in Ireland, and lowest in Bulgaria.
The highest share of households with three or more children was registered in Ireland (26%), followed by Finland (19%), Belgium and France (both 18%), the Netherlands (17%) and the United Kingdom (16%).
At the opposite end of the scale, less than 10% of households in Bulgaria (5%), Portugal (7%), Spain and Italy (both 8%), Lithuania (9%) and Latvia (10%) had three or more children in them.
Low rate of single-parent households in Finland
At EU level, 15% of households with children were single-parents households. Denmark (29%) and Estonia (28%) had the highest proportions of single-parent households among households with children, ahead of Lithuania and Sweden (both 25%), Latvia (23%), the United Kingdom (22%) and France (21%).
In contrast, the lowest proportions of single-parent households were in Croatia (6% of all households with dependent children), Romania (7%), Greece, Slovakia and Finland (all 8%).
If you want to consult the specific data on the number of homes with children for any other country of the EU, you can do it HERE
