According to Eurostat data for 2024, nearly every third citizen of Croatia lives in overcrowded square meters.

Although a slight trend of improvement is being recorded at the EU level, Croatia still remains in the infamous group of 5 countries with the highest household overcrowding rate. While the average resident of the Union is increasingly enjoying adequate living space, the data show that a significant part of the Croatian population still shares limited square footage with too many household members.

According to official statistics, the share of people living in overcrowded housing conditions at the level of the European Union fell to 16.9%, which is noticeable progress compared to the situation 10 years ago when that figure was over 18%. However, that average skillfully hides deep social differences between member states.

At the very top of this ranking is Romania, where as many as 40.7% of citizens live in cramped conditions. It is followed by Latvia with 39.3%, and Bulgaria and Poland, which record rates above 33%. Croatia, with 31.7%, holds fifth place, which means that almost every third person in the country lives in a space that, according to European criteria, is considered too small for the number of people living in it.

The opposite of this bleak series is represented by countries such as Cyprus, Malta, and the Netherlands, where the problem of overcrowding has almost been eradicated. In Cyprus, that percentage is only 2.4%, while the Netherlands, with 4.6%, shows that even in densely populated countries a high housing standard can be ensured.

Such a contrast clearly indicates that housing policy and the purchasing power of citizens in Croatia still have not reached levels that would enable a more dignified distribution per square meter.

It seems that the problem is not only in the bare numbers, but in a deep housing crisis and the inability of young families to secure a roof over their heads. While Europe is slowly expanding and freeing itself from crampedness, Croatia remains trapped in old patterns of multigenerational coexistence under the same roof, not because of tradition, but because of economic necessity. Without concrete shifts in housing strategies, the gap between the spacious West and the crowded East will remain one of the most visible borders within the Union itself.