One in four EU households is raising at least one child, according to 2022 Eurostat figures released today on International Children’s Day (November 20).

There are almost 200 million private households in the EU, and 24.3% of them have children, according to 2022 figures.

In particular, 12.1% of EU households include one child, 9.3% two children and only 3% of EU households have 3 or more children.

The total number of households in the EU increased by 6.9% between 2012 and 2022, but over the same period the proportion of households with at least one child fell by 2.4%.

The higher rates of households with children were recorded in Slovakia (33.9%), Ireland (32.2%) and Cyprus (30.6%), while lower rates in Finland (18.4%), Germany (20.1%) and the Netherlands (21.8%).

Among households with children in the EU, almost half had only one child (49.5%) in 2022while 38.1% of households had two children and 12.4% had three or more children.

One-child households are the most common among households with children in all EU countries except Netherlandswhere households with Two children have the highest percentage (42%).

According to Eurostat, among households with children in Hellasabout 48% include one child, 35% two children, and 17% three children.

Only a child comprise more than half of the households in Portugalthe Bulgariathe Romaniathe Maltathe LithuaniaLatvia, the Italythe Spain and Hungary.

The nhouseholds with three or more children is the least common in all EU countries. Their proportion among all households with children ranged from 22.3% in Ireland, 21.2% in Sweden and 19.0% in Finland, to 6.3% in Portugal , 6.5% in Bulgaria and 7.4% in Italy.