Cold winter: 9.2 per cent of Europeans struggled to heat their homes in 2024

Brussels – 9.2 per cent of the European Union’s population was unable to keep their homes adequately warm, a figure that is 1.4 percentage points higher than the previous year. These are the estimates reported by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. Italy, with 8.6 per cent, is 0.6 points below the European average, down 0.9 points from 2023.

The highest levels of difficulty in heating homes are found in Bulgaria and Greece, both at 19.0 per cent, followed by Lithuania (18.0 per cent) and Spain (17.5 per cent). At the opposite end of the scale are Finland (2.7 per cent), Poland and Slovenia (both at 3.3 per cent), and Estonia and Luxembourg (both at 3.6 per cent).

Portugal is the country that has seen the most significant annual improvement, with a 5.1 percentage-point reduction in the proportion of the population experiencing difficulties heating their homes, from 20.8 per cent in 2023 to 15.7 per cent in 2024. Conversely, Malta is the country that showed a worsening compared to 2023, rising from 6.8 to 7.8 per cent. In the Netherlands, on the other hand, the situation remained unchanged from the previous year, 7.1 per cent.

Looking beyond the EU, Switzerland has the lowest proportion of people struggling to heat their homes, at 0.7 per cent, up 0.2 percentage points from 2023.