Is overcrowding in the EU a reason why almost 6 million moved to the UK?

An exclusive report from Facts4EU.Org of the overcrowding in EU homes

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2022

In some EU countries the rate of household overcrowding is NINE times that in the UK

At its most basic level, the “European Projekt” is an attempt to take hundreds of millions of people from different countries - with different traditions, lifestyles, cultures, religions, economies, and standards of living – and ram them into one model called ‘the Federal States of Europe’.

Over the years the Facts4EU.Org team has shown just how wide are the disparities between the lives of the peoples of the 27 nations that currently make up the EU. Our reports have included everything from the staggering differences in pay levels, to access to the internet.

This Sunday we bring readers a new comparison: overcrowding in homes, using official EU statistics.

Why is “people per room” important?

The number of people living per room is a fundamental measure of the quality of people’s lives. It could also be argued that it has been one of the motivators for those in many EU countries to have left their own countries to seek a better life in the United Kingdom.

To date, we know that 5.8 million EU citizens have done so on a permanent basis, according to the latest Home Office figures for the ‘EU Settlement Scheme’ which the UK Government signed up to as part of the EU Withdrawal Agreement.

So, what’s it like in some EU countries, compared to the UK?

Facts4EU.Org has analysed the latest figures available from the EU’s official statistics agency, which relate to 2020.

As a comparison, we have also included the last available figure from that agency in respect of the UK, which is from 2018.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

Official EU household overcrowding rate 2020 – the Top 20

The percentage of each country's population living in overcrowded accommodation

© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2022 - click to enlarge

  1. Romania : 45.1%
  2. Latvia : 42.5%
  3. Bulgaria : 39.5%
  4. Poland : 36.9%
  5. Croatia : 36.2%
  6. Slovakia : 30.1%
  7. Greece : 29.0%
  8. Italy : 26.1%
  9. Lithuania : 21.1%
  10. Hungary : 19.0%
  11. Sweden : 15.6%
  12. Czechia : 15.2%
  13. Austria : 14.1%
  14. Estonia : 12.7%
  15. Slovenia : 10.9%
  16. Germany : 10.3%
  17. France : 9.8%
  18. Denmark : 9.5%
  19. Portugal : 9.0%
  20. Luxembourg : 8.5%
  • United Kingdom : 4.8%

The correlation between EU household overcrowding and immigration into the UK

Six out of the EU’s 10 worst countries for household overcrowding are in the Top 10 nationalities to have permanently settled in the United Kingdom.

Indeed 13 out of the EU’s 20 worst countries for household overcrowding are in the Top 20 nationalities to have moved to the UK. The EU27's average is 17.5%. That's over 3.5 times that in the United Kingdom.

In Romania, almost half the population is living in overcrowded accommodation. This is despite the fact that more than 1 million Romanians have moved and permanently settled in the UK.

How is “overcrowding” officially defined?

The overcrowding rate is defined as the percentage of the population living in an overcrowded household. A person is considered as living in an overcrowded household if the household does not have at its disposal a minimum number of rooms equal to:

  • one room for the household;
  • one room per couple in the household;
  • one room for each single person aged 18 or more;
  • one room per pair of single people of the same gender between 12 and 17 years of age;
  • one room for each single person between 12 and 17 years of age and not included in the previous category;
  • one room per pair of children under 12 years of age.

Observations

“Love Europe, loathe the EU”

Like most readers, the Facts4EU.Org team all love Europe. We love its rich variety, its peoples, and its cultures. We also believe in European countries trading freely – with the current exception of Russia.

However when it comes to a supranational unelected body attempting to curtail this diversity and put it into a box marked “EU”, we draw a line.

In our report above we have once again shown how the EU’s 27 member counries are vastly different. In this case we looked at how people live in their own homes.

The ‘trading bloc’ we joined back in 1973

If the EU were a trading bloc, as it was orginally sold to the British people back in 1972 before we joined on 01 Jan 1973, the lifestyles of peoples within that bloc would be their own concern. Unfortunately the original ‘EEC’ or ‘Common Market’ very soon became something different. One of those differences was called ‘Freedom of Movement’.

We now know that at least 5.8 million EU27 citizens took advantage of this to settle in the UK, with all the toll this has taken on our public services. There is no question that they have contributed in a great many ways to our economy. The problem has been that successive governments have simply failed to invest in the services required to cater for a population that has risen by 10% in such a short time, as a result of EU immigration.

The UK is attractive to migrants for all kinds of reasons, and for most of those reasons we should all be proud. Our report above merely provides yet one more example of why many EU citizens might have chosen to make the United Kingdom their home.

Facts4EU.Org needs you today

We are a 'not for profit' team (we make a loss) and any donation goes towards the actual work, not plush London offices, lunch or taxi expenses, or other luxuries of some organisations.

We badly need more of our thousands of readers to donate. Could this be you, today? Maybe you've been thinking about it, but just haven't got around to doing it? If so, let us reassure you. It's quick and easy and we use two highly secure payment providers. And we do NOT ask you for further donations if you donate once - we just hope that you keep supporting us. Your donation stays anonymous unless you tell us otherwise.

Please don't assume that other people will keep us going - we don't receive enough to survive and we need your help today. Could you help us?

Most of our readers are well-informed and appreciate our fact-based articles, presented in a way you won't see anywhere else. If you value reports like the one above, please help our work with a donation. We have far more to do in researching, publishing, campaigning and lobbying Parliament than we have in terms of the financial resources to fulfil these tasks. We badly need funding to continue - we rely 100% on public donations from readers like you.

If you believe in a fully-free, independent, and sovereign United Kingdom, please make a donation now. It’s quick, secure, and confidential, and you can use one of the links below or you can use our Donations page here. You will receive a personal, friendly ‘thank you’ from a member of our team within 24 hours. Thank you for reading this.

[ Sources: EU Commission (Eurostat) | The UK Home Office ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Sun 19 June 2022

Click here to go to our news headlines

Please scroll down to COMMENT on the above article.
And don't forget to actually post your message after you have previewed it!

Share this article on

Something to say about this? Scroll down for reader comments

Since before the EU Referendum, Brexit Facts4EU.Org
has been the most prolific researcher and publisher of Brexit facts in the world.

Supported by MPs, MEPs, & other groups, our work has impact.

We think facts matter. Please donate today, so that we can continue to ensure a clean Brexit is finally delivered.

Any credit card user

Quick One-off

Donate

From £5 - £1,000

Monthly

Subscribe

From £3 per month

Paypal Users Only - Choose amount first

Quick One-off

Monthly