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Housing costs over 40% of income in the EU countries

Topic: Housing

In Greece, 26.4% of people spend more than 40% of their income on housing, against 2.4% in Cyprus.

In 2025, 7.6% of people in the EU lived in a household whose housing costs were more than 40% of its disposable income. The income is that of the year before the survey.

Figures for:
2025.
Covers:
the time of the survey.
New data:
once a year.
Dataset updated:
29 October 2026.

Published 1 November 2026, updated 6 November 2026

27 / 27 EU countries ranked

The ranking

In 2025, the share of people whose housing costs exceed 40% of their disposable income was highest in Greece, at 26.4%, and lowest in Cyprus, at 2.4%.

Share of people whose housing costs exceed 40% of their disposable income, %

2025
0102030%
EU, 7.6 %
Rank 1: Greece, 26.4 %
Rank 2: Denmark, 14.7 %
Rank 3: Germany, 11.2 %
Rank 4: Sweden, 10.8 %
Rank 5: Estonia, 8.8 %
Rank 6: Czechia, 8.2 %
Rank 7: Luxembourg, 8.1 %
Rank 8: Spain, 7.2 %
Rank 9: Bulgaria, 6.9 %
Rank 10: Belgium, 6.7 %
Rank 11: Netherlands, 6.5 %
Rank 12: France, 6.4 %
Rank 13: Portugal, 6.3 %
Rank 14: Austria, 6.1 %
Rank 15: Malta, 6.0 %
Rank 16: Lithuania, 5.7 %
Rank 16: Latvia, 5.7 %
Rank 18: Hungary, 5.3 %
Rank 18: Ireland, 5.3 %
Rank 20: Italy, 5.0 %
Rank 20: Romania, 5.0 %
Rank 22: Finland, 4.7 %
Rank 23: Poland, 4.1 %
Rank 24: Slovenia, 3.5 %
Rank 24: Slovakia, 3.5 %
Rank 26: Croatia, 3.2 %
Rank 27: Cyprus, 2.4 %
How to read: bars start at zero. Every country with a value is shown, ranked from highest to lowest.Source: Eurostat, Housing cost overburden rate by age, sex and poverty status (ilc_lvho07a).Chart: Civitascope (civitascope.eu) · CC BY 4.0 · Download image · Download data ·

Poverty risk and housing costs

Among people above the at-risk-of-poverty threshold, the spread across countries was much narrower. Greece was again the highest, at 12.7%, and Croatia the lowest, at 0.4%. The gap between Greece and Croatia was 12.3 percentage points.

Among people at risk of poverty, the spread across countries was much wider than among people above the at-risk-of-poverty threshold. Greece was again the highest, at 82.6%, and Cyprus the lowest, at 7.6%. The highest and the lowest were 75.0 percentage points apart.

Share of people whose housing costs exceed 40% of their disposable income: above the threshold and at risk of poverty, %

2025
Above the thresholdAt risk of povertyAt risk of poverty − above the thresholdDifference
020406080pp
EU, Above the threshold: 3.4 %, At risk of poverty: 29.0 %, At risk of poverty − above the threshold: +25.6
Rank 1: Greece, Above the threshold: 12.7 %, At risk of poverty: 82.6 %, At risk of poverty − above the threshold: +69.9
Rank 2: Denmark, Above the threshold: 8.6 %, At risk of poverty: 59.8 %, At risk of poverty − above the threshold: +51.2
Rank 3: Sweden, Above the threshold: 4.2 %, At risk of poverty: 46.8 %, At risk of poverty − above the threshold: +42.6
Rank 4: Czechia, Above the threshold: 4.5 %, At risk of poverty: 43.4 %, At risk of poverty − above the threshold: +38.9
Rank 5: Germany, Above the threshold: 6.6 %, At risk of poverty: 35.0 %, At risk of poverty − above the threshold: +28.4
Rank 6: Estonia, Above the threshold: 2.9 %, At risk of poverty: 33.3 %, At risk of poverty − above the threshold: +30.4
Rank 7: Austria, Above the threshold: 1.2 %, At risk of poverty: 32.1 %, At risk of poverty − above the threshold: +30.9
Rank 8: Belgium, Above the threshold: 3.7 %, At risk of poverty: 31.3 %, At risk of poverty − above the threshold: +27.6
Rank 9: Luxembourg, Above the threshold: 3.9 %, At risk of poverty: 30.4 %, At risk of poverty − above the threshold: +26.5
Rank 10: Netherlands, Above the threshold: 2.9 %, At risk of poverty: 29.9 %, At risk of poverty − above the threshold: +27.0
Rank 11: Spain, Above the threshold: 2.1 %, At risk of poverty: 28.3 %, At risk of poverty − above the threshold: +26.2
Rank 12: Bulgaria, Above the threshold: 1.5 %, At risk of poverty: 27.0 %, At risk of poverty − above the threshold: +25.5
Rank 13: France, Above the threshold: 2.7 %, At risk of poverty: 25.4 %, At risk of poverty − above the threshold: +22.7
Rank 14: Portugal, Above the threshold: 2.9 %, At risk of poverty: 24.4 %, At risk of poverty − above the threshold: +21.5
Rank 15: Malta, Above the threshold: 2.5 %, At risk of poverty: 23.0 %, At risk of poverty − above the threshold: +20.5
Rank 16: Latvia, Above the threshold: 1.0 %, At risk of poverty: 22.3 %, At risk of poverty − above the threshold: +21.3
Rank 17: Poland, Above the threshold: 1.2 %, At risk of poverty: 21.9 %, At risk of poverty − above the threshold: +20.7
Rank 18: Italy, Above the threshold: 1.2 %, At risk of poverty: 21.7 %, At risk of poverty − above the threshold: +20.5
Rank 19: Hungary, Above the threshold: 2.7 %, At risk of poverty: 21.2 %, At risk of poverty − above the threshold: +18.5
Rank 20: Finland, Above the threshold: 2.3 %, At risk of poverty: 20.7 %, At risk of poverty − above the threshold: +18.4
Rank 21: Lithuania, Above the threshold: 1.5 %, At risk of poverty: 20.2 %, At risk of poverty − above the threshold: +18.7
Rank 22: Slovenia, Above the threshold: 1.0 %, At risk of poverty: 18.7 %, At risk of poverty − above the threshold: +17.7
Rank 23: Ireland, Above the threshold: 3.5 %, At risk of poverty: 17.1 %, At risk of poverty − above the threshold: +13.6
Rank 24: Romania, Above the threshold: 2.3 %, At risk of poverty: 16.9 %, At risk of poverty − above the threshold: +14.6
Rank 25: Slovakia, Above the threshold: 1.8 %, At risk of poverty: 15.4 %, At risk of poverty − above the threshold: +13.6
Rank 26: Croatia, Above the threshold: 0.4 %, At risk of poverty: 14.9 %, At risk of poverty − above the threshold: +14.5
Rank 27: Cyprus, Above the threshold: 1.5 %, At risk of poverty: 7.6 %, At risk of poverty − above the threshold: +6.1
How to read: the filled dot is at risk of poverty, the outlined dot above the threshold, each with its value beside it. The column on the right is their difference, at risk of poverty − above the threshold. Countries are ranked by at risk of poverty.Source: Eurostat, Housing cost overburden rate by age, sex and poverty status (ilc_lvho07a).Chart: Civitascope (civitascope.eu) · CC BY 4.0 · Download image · Download data ·
EveryoneAbove the thresholdAt risk of poverty
Lowest2.4%Cyprus0.4%Croatia7.6%Cyprus
Highest26.4%Greece12.7%Greece82.6%Greece
Highest − lowest24.0 pp12.3 pp75.0 pp

Everyone

Lowest: 2.4% (Cyprus)Highest: 26.4% (Greece)Highest − lowest: 24.0 pp

Above the threshold

Lowest: 0.4% (Croatia)Highest: 12.7% (Greece)Highest − lowest: 12.3 pp

At risk of poverty

Lowest: 7.6% (Cyprus)Highest: 82.6% (Greece)Highest − lowest: 75.0 pp

About the data

The share of people living in households whose total housing costs, net of housing allowances, are more than 40% of the household's disposable income, also net of housing allowances.

Eurostat: “The housing cost overburden rate is the percentage of the population living in households where the total housing costs ('net' of housing allowances) represent more than 40 % of disposable income ('net' of housing allowances).” (source)

EU statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC), a yearly sample survey of households run by the national statistical institutes, combined in many countries with administrative data on income. Housing costs are reported by the household.

How to read these numbers

How it is measured

The survey covers people living in private households. People in collective households and institutions are generally not included (Estonia includes collective households).

Housing costs include rent or mortgage interest, utilities such as water, electricity, gas and heating, mandatory charges, regular maintenance and repairs, and taxes. Repayments of a mortgage's principal do not count. Only costs actually paid count, whoever pays them.

The income in the ratio is the household's income of the calendar year before the survey. The housing costs are those at the time of the survey.

People at risk of poverty are those whose equivalised disposable income is below their country's at-risk-of-poverty threshold. The threshold is derived from each country's own median income. It is therefore a different income level in each country. The income is that of the calendar year before the survey (in Ireland until 2019, the twelve months before the interview).

France's figures cover the European part of the country and, since 2022, four overseas departments (Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana and Réunion). Mayotte is not included. Portugal's figures include the Azores and Madeira, and Cyprus's cover the government-controlled areas.

Provisional figures

A provisional value (flag p) may still be revised. This concerns Lithuania (2025).

Sources and data

Eurostat, Housing cost overburden rate by age, sex and poverty status (ilc_lvho07a). Data updated 29 October 2026, retrieved 3 November 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.

Eurostat metadata · Eurostat methodology

The exact Eurostat API query

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/api/dissemination/statistics/1.0/data/ilc_lvho07a?format=JSON&lang=en&age=TOTAL&freq=A&geo=AT&geo=BE&geo=BG&geo=CY&geo=CZ&geo=DE&geo=DK&geo=EE&geo=EL&geo=ES&geo=EU27_2020&geo=FI&geo=FR&geo=HR&geo=HU&geo=IE&geo=IT&geo=LT&geo=LU&geo=LV&geo=MT&geo=NL&geo=PL&geo=PT&geo=RO&geo=SE&geo=SI&geo=SK&rskpovth=TOTAL&sex=T&unit=PC

How every number in this story was computed

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