Across numerous European policy fields, households are used as the reference analytical unit. As household structures are evolving quickly in the European Union, EU27 wide projections are essential for anticipating future impacts, such as on housing demand, child and long‑term care needs, and for energy consumption and antipoverty measures. This technical report proposes a harmonised methodology to project how individuals will be distributed across household types over the next 80 years in the European Union. By applying a Cohort Simulation Model to the EU Labour Force Survey, this study provides projections of the share of individuals living across three different household types: single-person, living with a partner (irrespective of children), and living with children (irrespective of a partner). The results show that the share of individuals in a single-person household is projected to increase for both men and women. A first increase manifests at younger ages, signalling a delayed or forgone family formation (especially for men). A second, more pronounced increase is evident at older ages, especially for women, who have a longer life expectancy than men. Conversely, the share of individuals living with a partner is projected to decrease, especially for men aged 35-75. The share of women living with a partner decreases sharply at older ages. The share of women living with a child is higher compared to men at all ages.

QUERIN Federica;  BERNINI Alba;  NEDEE Astrid;  NATALE Fabrizio; 

2026-05-29

Publications Office of the European Union

JRC146503

978-92-68-39931-6 (online),   

1831-9424 (online),   

EUR 40729,    OP KJ-01-26-227-EN-N (online),   

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC146503,   

10.2760/1299066 (online),