In 2016, the EU had 220 million households. The most common type of household was composed of one person (33 % of the total number of households), followed by households consisting of couples without children (25 %) and couples with children (20 %). 4% of households were made up of single adults with children. The remaining 18 % consisted of other types of households with or without children.

Among the Member States, over half of households in Sweden (52 % of all households) were one person households, while in Malta (20 %) it was a fifth. Finland (32 %) had the highest share of households consisting of couples without children and Ireland (28 %) had the largest proportion of couples with children. Lithuania had both the lowest share of households consisting of couples with children (17 %) and of couples without children (14 %).

Denmark (9 %) recorded the highest share of households consisting of single adults with children, while Greece, Croatia and Finland (all 2 %) had the lowest.