Living space: the great new need for more space

Have you sometimes wished for more space in the past months? Space for your hobby, space to retreat, space for the children inside and outside, space to work? A recent study has investigated how much space others have to live in.

In purely statistical terms, Germans have had more and more space to live in over the years. But how much space is available to individuals and special groups varies greatly. For example, people with a migration background take up much less space than others. An interactive graphic by the Institute of the German Economy (IW) shows who has how much space to live in: www.iwkoeln.de/presse/interaktive-grafiken/beitrag/pekka-sagner-wie-gross-ist-meine-wohnung-im-vergleich.html.

The calculation uses data from the Socio-Economic Panel. This shows that the share of single-person households rose from 34 percent to 42 percent between 1990 and 2018. Changes in the structure of society, but also immigration, demographics and migration movements with the trend towards large cities have changed the demand for space. Most recently, it was the corona pandemic that placed new demands on space in the home. 

Anyone in Germany with more than 41 square metres of living space per capita is among the top 50 percent of those with plenty of space. From 83 square metres per capita, one belongs to the top ten percent. The median flat size is 100 square metres. There is a big difference between owners and tenants: on average, owners have 125 square metres of living space, while tenants have only 75 square metres. 

Older people have the most space. Each pensioner has an average of 60 square metres of living space. This may be due to the fact that parents did not change flats after their children moved out. 

Photo: © Erika Wittlieb, Pixabay