Youth emancipation in Spain rises to more than 16% for the first time since the pandemic

Efe Madrid

Madrid

Updated Tuesday,16January2024 - 11:48

The youth emancipation rate in Spain rose in the first half of 2023 to 16.3% for the first time since 2020, although it remains well below the European Union average (31.9), according to the latest report by the Youth Council's Emancipation Observatory.

The study, published on Tuesday and focused on the population between 16 and 29 years of age - which in Spain are 7,088,690 - shows that the structural housing problem means that Spain has one of the highest average ages of emancipation in Europe, at 30.3 years.

Despite the slight improvement (0.37 percentage points compared to the previous year), the youth emancipation rate is still far from the levels reached before the pandemic (18.7%) and the peak recorded before the economic crisis of 2008 (26.1%).

In addition, from January to June last year, youth unemployment fell slightly to 20.1% - the lowest figure since mid-2008 - and the average youth salary increased by 5% to €12,062.59

But these improvements, the study warns, have not reached all communities: in 10 of them the emancipation rate fell compared to the first half of 2022; In 5 of the 7 autonomous communities in which the unemployment rate grew, emancipation also fell, and in 9 of the 17 communities the average salary is less than 1,000 euros per month.

The unaffordable price of rents

In this context, the price of rent, the most common form of emancipation for young people, has skyrocketed and has risen much more than wages, whose average in 12 payments stood at 1,005.22 euros net per month, while the average rental price was 944 euros per month.

If we add to this the average cost of a home's utilities (138.12 euros per month), the price of a single rental would add up to 1,082.12 euros, so a young person would be 76.9 euros short of being able to live alone, warns the Observatory.

The average €944 per month that a young person pays to rent a home is the highest price since records began, it represents 93.9% of their salary and implies an increase of 9.3% compared to a year earlier and almost 70% compared to that of rental housing ten years ago.

Nor is renting a room in a shared home an affordable option: it costs €375 per month, the equivalent of 37.3% of a young person's salary (studies place 30% of the salary as the maximum acceptable to dedicate to housing), a situation that occurs in 10 of the 17 communities. In four, it even exceeded 40%.

Although less, but the buying market also became more expensive in the first half of 2023: the first monthly payment of a mortgage would correspond to 65.9% of the salary of a young person, who would have to save 53,796 euros to pay the down payment on a home, the equivalent of four and a half years of their salary.

Differences by sex and autonomous community

In terms of gender, women continue to emancipate themselves more than men (19.4% compared to 13.3%).

Catalonia (20.9), the Canary Islands (19.1), Murcia (18.2), Madrid (17), Asturias (16.6) and the Balearic Islands (16.4) have an emancipation rate above the Spanish average.

Below the average are Aragon (16.2), Valencia (15.5), Navarre (15.5), Galicia (15.3), Basque Country (14.8), Extremadura (14.8), Castilla y León (14.7), La Rioja (14.7), Castilla-La Mancha (13.3), Andalusia (12.9) and Cantabria (11).