European statistics have confirmed over the
\nyears the existence of a phenomenon that is not showing any signs of slowing
\ndown: more and more young adults, aged 19-34, continue to live with their
\nparents. The dream of leaving home and becoming independent as quickly as
\npossible is no longer a priority for young Europeans, including in Romania. For
\ninstance, in 2018, approximately 42% of young Romanians aged 25-34 still lived
\nwith their parents, while the latest data shows that their number stands at 2.2
\nmillion. The pandemic did little to correct the situation, Romania ranking
\namong Europe’s top 10 countries with the highest rates of parent-child
\ncoresidence. Ranking first are Croatia, Greece and Slovakia, while Nordic
\ncountries such as Sweden, Finland and Denmark are the opposite end. Socilogist
\nDumitru Sandu, a university lecturer at University of Bucharest, has studied
\nthe phenomenon analyzing the recent data.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In 2020, at European level, 65% of young
\nadults in Croatia lived with their parents, 60% in Greece and 53% in Slovakia.
\nRomania ranked 10th with 43%. In fact, over 2018-2020 a major change
\noccurs that has to do with gender differences. The share of young men aged
\n24-34 who still lived with their parents stood at 55%. Young women in the same
\nage bracket accounted for 29%. Therefore, we are dealing with a difference of
\napproximately 27%. In terms of gender gaps, Romania ranks 2nd at
\nEuropean level after Bulgaria, where the difference stands at 28%. Therefore,
\nwe are witnessing in Europe a gap not between the old EU and the new one, but
\nbetween geographical extremes. There are southern countries like Croatia,
\nGreece, Slovakia and Romania, which have demographic tendencies similar to
\nPortugal, Spain, Italy and Malta, and then we have Nordic countries, creating a
\nmajor rift between southern and northern Europe. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The main cause behind this phenomenon is
\neconomic in nature. High youth unemployment, soaring rent and the growth of the
\nreal-estate market are reasons that prevent young people from leaving their
\nparents’ house. The persistence of older cultural or social models might also
\ncontribute to this reality, all the more so considering the aforementioned
\ngender differences.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Economic reasons are real, but there’s also
\na cultural or social motivation, in the sense that in the traditional cultural
\nparadigm the man is the main income provider. Men dominate the labor market.
\nThis social motivation impacts sociological studies. I have measured the social
\nperformance of the 27 EU countries in terms of life expectancy at birth, an
\nindicator used in expert studies that measure the development of societies. In
\na nutshell, societies with underdeveloped social and health services tend to
\nforce young adults to continue to live with their parents, men in particular.
\nHence the huge gaps between men and women in southern Europe compared to
\nnorthern Europe. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Still, this doesn’t fully explain the
\nphenomenon, considering southern Europe has undergone many transformations,
\nRomania being a case in point. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Poor countries in southern Europe have in
\nthe last 20 years experienced a process of accelerated growth in terms of the
\nprospects of young adults. In brief, young people in Romania, regardless of
\ntheir financial situation or the country’s economic development, want to live
\nin the West. Under these circumstances, some of them leave to Western
\ncountries, but others stay behind. They curb their personal spending and
\nprepare to make a family. For instance, Romanian society has started investing
\nmore in more in child education. We don’t want a lot of children, but to offer
\nthem a better live, in our family, in our household and in society, so that
\nthey have access to better education and higher living standards, Romanians
\ntend to think. Therefore, this type of procrastination that might seem peculiar
\nat first glance is completely sound. It results from the sudden increase in the
\naspirations of relatively poor young people in southern Europe who postpone
\nmaking a family and building their own household until the conditions are
\nideal. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, none of the current studies
\nindicates the fact that the level of parent-child coresidence will go down any
\ntime soon, at least as long as the current economic context persists. (VP) <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Parent-child coresidence is a growing phenomenon in Romania<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":95999,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42997],"tags":[35583,43902,43901,43900],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-144153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society-today","tag-covid-pandemic","tag-gender-gaps","tag-life-expectancy","tag-parent-child-coresidence"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n