http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/21/world/europe/young-slovakians-find-hotel-mama-easy-to-check-into-hard-to-leave.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=photo-spot-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
According to European Commission statistics, In Slovakia, 74% of adults, from the age group of 18 years to 34 years regardless of employment or marital status still live with their parents.
And among older adults, 25 to 34 years old, 57% reside with their parents. This trend is termed as "Hotel Mama." In Bulgaria it is 51%, in Romania it is 46%, in Serbia 54%, and in Croatia it is 59%.
Social scientists and government officials do not think there is some specific reason for this trend, besides the financial crisis.It is to be noted that all these European countries until recently were Communist.
"The lingering effects of central planning, combined with long-term shortages of housing, especially rentals, have limited the options for many young people in Central & Eastern Europe." When Communism collapsed, residents of state-owned housing in many Communist nations were given the opportunity to buy their apartments at generously low prices, a sweet deal that their children now find they cannot duplicate.
Also changing the ownership of the house is a huge hassle now and renting is also not a part of the culture.
However, the main issue is also that even though these countries are westernizing, the housing infrastructure of these countries, the wage levels to sustain the Western life is not sustainable.
2 comments:
According to Paul Taylor's book "The Next America" it seems that this trend of kids living with their parents for longer is happening in the United States as well. The book states that the crisis is a major reason for this but also because of the later average age that people are getting married. It will be interesting to see how these statistics change over the next decade.
I think it is a pretty common issue that more people live with their parents for a longer period. Mainly because it's expensive to own a house and people are getting married much later. I don't think this problem will go away soon. This trend might just become a part of the norm
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