29% of Europeans can’t afford a week’s holiday
In 2019, 29% of residents of EU Member States aged 16 or over were unable to afford paying for an annual one-week holiday away from home. This share has gradually decreased since 2010, when 39% of Europeans could not afford to take a week holidaying away from their home.
However, due to lockdowns and border closure implemented across the world in 2020 to slow down the rapid spread of the coronavirus, this downward trend is likely to halt in 2020.
Among EU Member States, Romania recorded the highest share of individuals in this situation, with the majority of Romanians (54%) being unable to afford a one-week annual holiday in 2019. Residents of Greece came second, with 49% not being able to take a one-week holiday away from home, followed by Croatia (48%), Cyprus (45%) and Italy (44%).
In contrast, at the lower-end of the scale, only 10% of people in Sweden were unable to afford a one-week annual holiday, followed by Denmark and Luxembourg (both 11%), Finland (12%), Germany and Austria (both 13%).
Compared with 2010, the percentage of people who were unable to afford a one-week holiday away from home each year declined across all Member States, with the exception of Italy and Greece where it increased 4 percentage points (pp) and 3 pp respectively. The largest declines were recorded in Latvia (-35 pp), Malta (-30 pp), Bulgaria and Poland (both -27 pp) and Estonia (-26 pp).
Notes:
- Ireland, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg, United Kingdom, Switzerland: 2018 data
- Iceland: 2017 data
- The European Union (EU) includes 27 EU Member States. The United Kingdom left the European Union on 31 January 2020. Further information is published here.
Source: Eurostat
