To unravel the true from the false, the Unobravo platform analyzed ten years of official European data and surveyed 1,500 French on their home departure habits. The results of his survey shake up the received ideas and reveal a Europe with variable geometry, where emancipation depends as much on traditions as on the portfolio.
First observation, the average age to gain independence is 26.6 years in Europe. This average mask of vertiginous differences between countries. When the young Finnish leaves the family cocoon at 21.4 years, their Montenegrin counterparts wisely await their 33.3 years. Twelve years apart between north and southern Europe.
With 23.5 years on average, France is closer to the Nordic countries than its Mediterranean neighbors. An age that has remained stable for ten years, suggesting that this relative precocity is due to structural factors rather than recent economic fluctuations.
Beyond the geographic disparities, the study reveals a constant in all of Europe: men remain systematically longer at the parental home than women. In France, this difference reached 1.3 years, men leaving the family home at 24.1 years old against 22.8 years for women. This gap may seem anecdotal but reveals the persistence of differentiated social expectations. Indeed, women are often pushed earlier towards independence and empowerment, while men benefit from greater family tolerance.
When the money slows down the flight
But whatever their gender, the vast majority (59%) of the French questioned believe that it has become more difficult than before taking off. The fault of the explosion of housing costs. Between 2015 and 2023, real estate prices jumped 50% in the European Union, according to Statista. What cool the fiercest ardors of independence.
This economic reality explains the contrasting performance of European countries. Finland, where the real estate increase is limited to 5.4%, can afford to see its young people leaving earlier. Spain, which accumulates 10.4% unemployment and +47.7% on real estate, logically sees its young people drag on the family home.
These economic difficulties are not content to lengthen the stay with parents. They also cause unexpected feedback to the fold. In France, one in five comes back to live with his parents after having tasted independence. For more than half, the reasons are purely financial. For a third, it is isolation or stress that pushes them to find the security of the family nest. This phenomenon, amplified by the consequences of the pandemic, illustrates how fragile residential independence remains in the face of economic and personal vagaries.
Fortunately, this evolution of behavior is accompanied by a change in mentalities. More than half of French people (55%) consider that society is now better accepts adults living in their parents. Staying in the family home is no longer perceived as a personal failure but as a pragmatic choice in a difficult economic context. This acceptance promotes new family arrangements, where intergenerational cohabitation can offer mutual benefits such as financial security for young people and support for parents.
This investigation confirms this: from his parents is just a question of personal motivation. Far from the shots on the lazy “Tanguy”, a generation is taking shape which composes with pragmatism between economic constraints and personal aspirations. A generation which proves that in matters of emancipation, there is no longer a single path but a thousand ways to grow. What if Etienne Chatiliez’s film was finally 20 years ahead of his time?