Almost 59 percent Croatian youths aged 25-34 still live with their parents, which is double the European Union average (28.5 percent), showed the Eurostat data for 2016.

With low employment prospects and inadequate incomes, it is difficult for the young people in Croatia to leave the family nest as soon as their EU peers, reported Vecernji List daily on Wednesday.

On average, young people in the EU leave their home at the age of 26.

Croatia and Malta had the highest age averages, with young people leaving home at the average age of 32.2 and 31.9 respectively.

Scandinavian and Luxembourg youths leave home the earliest in the EU – in Sweden, at the age of 21, in Finland 21.9, and in Luxembourg 21.4 on average. In Scandinavian countries, fewer than 10 percent youths aged 25-34 still live in their parental homes.

Data showed that women leave their parents earlier than men in all the EU countries, including Croatia, where women leave at the average age of 30.4, and men some three years later.

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