Leaving nest is unaffordable
Young professionals having difficulty making ends meet as cost of living increases
It has become particularly difficult for young professionals to make ends meet, given that the average monthly income with earnings only from wages for young people up to 25 years old is 497.11 euros and for young people 25-34 years old €760.55, according to the latest data from the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT).
Even if these people do not pay rent, the fact that they will now have to spend 34% of their monthly income on food instead of last year’s 29%, immediately means a significant decrease in their income. If until last year they paid around €50 per month for electricity, this year the bill exceeds €70, while if they paid around €20 for heating with natural gas, this year they will pay around €72 based on current data. In other words, this year they will have to spend about 28.5% of their income on their energy needs, compared to just under 15% last year.
It is no coincidence that, according to the latest available Eurostat data for 2021, Greek women leave their parents’ home at the age of 30.7 years on average. To some extent this may be related to cultural factors, however, a more careful examination of the facts over the course of the decades shows that in times of crisis, staying in the family home is probably the only option. In 2004, one of the country’s most affluent periods, young people left their homes at the age of 27.7.
As of 2010, with Greece’s entry in the bailout mechanism, the average nest-leaving age rose together with youth unemployment, to reach 29.5 years in the following years. In 2019 it fell to 28.9 years, but the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, which resulted in many young people entering a suspension of employment and thus reducing their income, and the onset of inflationary pressures from the second half of 2021, led young people to move out at almost 31 years of age.
The irony is that the so-called “700-euro generation” that emerged just before the economic crisis as the first generation that was worse off than the previous one, seems almost ideal to today’s young people.
