Nest-leaving patterns in Sweden

Anna-Karin Nylin, Statistics Sweden

To leave the parental home is a big step toward becoming an adult. The focus of this study is to examine when youths in Sweden leave the parental home for the first time and how this has changed over the last 20 years. For the purpose of studying age differences in regard to region as well as background the study is based on register data. All results are age-standardized. The results show that women today leave home at the age of 21, which is more than half a year earlier than men. Further, the results show regional differences. The median age at home leaving is closer to 22 years for women in metropolitan areas and the suburbs and over 22 years for men. In sparsely populated areas women and men leave the home more than one year earlier. People born in Sweden and the other Nordic countries have about the same median age when leaving home, while people born in countries outside the Nordic ones left home at higher ages. The highest median age is found among men born in Europe outside the EU, among them the median age is over 23 years. Over time the nest-leaving age has increased regardless of region and background. Ongoing studies are focusing on where the young home leavers move and patterns are put in context to the economic situation in Sweden.