At a press conference during the Thessaloniki International Fair on Sunday, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis touched on an increasingly sensitive issue for families across the country: student housing. With rents rising and affordable accommodation in short supply, he argued that part of the solution could be cultural. Mitsotakis pointed to practices abroad, where students often share apartments, noting that this model helps keep living costs manageable.
“The Greek family holds on to the idea that when a child goes to university, they should live alone,” he said. “This is not the case elsewhere. Students abroad share housing, which gives them significant financial benefits. If everyone is looking for a 40 or 50-square-meter studio, prices will inevitably rise. But if more students choose to live together, the pressure on small apartments will decrease.”
The Prime Minister’s comments struck a chord in a country where independence during university years is seen as a milestone and a matter of family pride. Yet international data suggest the picture is more nuanced than the simple contrast between Greece and “the rest of the world.”
Figures from EUROSTUDENT, a research program that monitors the social and economic conditions of students in 26 European countries, reveal that cohabitation is far from the norm across the continent. While Greece does not participate in the survey, the comparative data show that only 13 percent of students in the countries studied share accommodation with friends or fellow students. The most common arrangement, chosen by 34 percent, is living with parents. Another 26 percent live with a partner or spouse, while 15 percent stay in student dormitories. The least common option, at 12 percent, is full independence—renting and living alone, which is precisely the model that Greek families typically prefer.
The data also highlight wide variations between countries. At one end of the spectrum, the Netherlands stands out, with 29 percent of students sharing their homes with others. Austria and Iceland follow closely at 27 percent, while in Ireland and Sweden the figure reaches 22 percent. Northern and Western Europe generally record higher rates: 20 percent in Estonia, 19 percent in Denmark, and 18 percent in both Finland and France. Germany sits at 17 percent, with Norway and Poland slightly lower at 16 percent.
In much of Central and Eastern Europe, however, shared living is far less common. Lithuania reports 15 percent, Latvia 13 percent, Romania and Hungary 12 percent, the Czech Republic 11 percent, and Croatia 10 percent.
The rates fall even further in Slovakia (9 percent) and Portugal (8 percent). Switzerland records just 7 percent, Malta 6 percent, and Spain 5 percent. In Georgia only 4 percent of students share their housing, and in Azerbaijan the practice is almost non-existent at 1 percent.
The figures complicate the suggestion that cohabitation could be a simple remedy to Greece’s student housing pressures. While it is true that many students abroad reduce costs by living together, the majority do not. Most either remain at home, live with a partner, or rely on university housing.
