site.bta41% of Bulgarians Live in Overcrowded and 11.5% in Underoccupied Homes - Eurostat

January 5 (BTA) - Just over 41 per cent of Bulgarians live in overcrowded homes, according to a new report by Eurostat. It means that there are not enough rooms relative to the size of the household. This places Bulgaria third among the countries with the worst overcrowding problem.

The first two are Romania and Latvia with some 46 and 42 per cent of their population living in overcrowded conditions.

The EU average is 17.2 per cent.

Overcrowding is least common in Cyprus (just over 2 per cent), Malta (3.7 per cent) and the Netherlands (4.8 per cent).

Compared to 2010, the picture in 2019 - for which the latest figures apply - shows some improvement with regard to overcrowding. In 2010, overcrowding affected an average of 19 per cent of Europeans and over 47 per cent of Bulgarians.

At the same time, one in three Europeans lives in an underoccupied dwelling, meaning that there are more rooms (usually bedrooms) than the household needs. The share of Bulgarians living in underoccupied conditions is 11.5 per cent.

Other countries with less than 15 per cent of the population living in underoccupied housing are Romania (7.7 per cent), Latvia (just under 10 per cent) and Italy (14.2 per cent). NV/LN/
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