The Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft (IW) (Institute of the German Economy) conducted a study to examine residential space consumption in Germany. This involved dividing the population in Germany into 100 equally sized socioeconomic groups on the basis of calculations of household and personal survey data from the socioeconomic panel (SOEP). Within these groups, the mean value of living space was determined. The evaluations comparing the living spaces are available in an online tool of the IW. This tool also allows users to enter their own living space and evaluate it taking various parameters into account.
If the evaluations of the total population are taken into account, the average living space per person is 41 square meters. With more than 83 square meters per capita, people belong to the top 10 percent of the population in terms of available living space. The online tool offers the possibility to analyze the data within different sizes. This includes, for example, the subdivision into one-person, two-person, three-person, four-person, and five-person and more households.
People living alone have more space available, with an average living area of 65 square meters. In this group, only 11 percent live in less than 41 square meters, the average for the population as a whole. The evaluations can be viewed with regard to different groupings. In addition to a division into eastern and western Germany and into owner-occupied and tenant-occupied households, the online tool also contains information on households with couples with or without children and single parents, different building types, income structure, employment status and education, as well as age, education and city size.
Source: IW
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