Euronews Business examines housing benefits within Europe’s broader social protection spending. The EU has just launched its first Affordable Housing Plan, aiming to ease a deepening housing crunch.
Housing is becoming a growing crisis across Europe. In December 2025, the European Commission announced its first-ever European Affordable Housing Plan.
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The initiative aims to address one of the most urgent concerns for citizens: access to affordable, sustainable and quality housing.
Most European countries already provide housing benefits as part of their social protection systems. However, support levels vary widely, reflecting different national policies.
So which countries provide the highest housing benefits? And how much do European governments spend per person on housing support?
The data captures public interventions aimed at helping households cover housing costs — including rent support, social housing and benefits for owner-occupiers.
According to Eurostat, housing accounted for 1.35% of total social protection spending in the EU in 2024. This amounted to €66.5 billion, equal to 0.37% of EU GDP and €148 per inhabitant.
Housing benefits per person vary widely across Europe. They range from almost zero in Bulgaria to €755 in Ireland among 31 countries. Finland ranks second at €484, followed by the UK at €406.
However, the UK figure is from 2018 and may not be fully comparable with more recent data. Even so, it still suggests the UK is among the countries providing the highest housing benefits.
Denmark (€375), Iceland (€335), Germany (€328) and Switzerland (€327) also allocated more than €300 per person to housing benefits. The Netherlands (€271), France (€234) and Sweden (€200) complete the top 10.
Spending ranges between €100 and €199 in three countries: Cyprus (€185), Luxembourg (€130) and Belgium (€110). All other countries with available data spend less than €100 per person.
Among the five largest European economies, Italy (€13) and Spain (€36) allocate significantly less than their counterparts.
Rents vary widely across Europe. Some countries are far more expensive than others.
When housing benefits per person are adjusted for purchasing power standards (PPS), the figures change but the overall rankings remain broadly similar.
Ireland (535 PPS) still ranks first, followed by Finland (380) and the UK (331), based on 2018 data.
In nominal terms, Germany allocates the largest amount to housing benefits at €27.4 billion, accounting for more than two in five of the EU total. France follows with €16.1 billion, around a quarter of the total.
Among 31 countries, the UK ranks second at €27 billion, although this figure is based on 2018 data. According to the British government, housing benefit spending is expected to reach £37.8 billion (€43.3 billion) in the 2025–2026 financial year.
However, the definition of housing benefits may differ slightly from Eurostat’s methodology.
Housing benefit spending was also above €4 billion in the Netherlands and Ireland, while it was below €1 billion in Italy.
In total, 0.37% of EU GDP was allocated to housing-related social protection. Among EU countries, the share ranges from almost zero in Bulgaria and Croatia to 0.99% in Finland. The UK’s 2018 figure was the highest at 1.11%.
Ireland (0.72%), Germany (0.63%), Denmark (0.57%), France (0.55%) and Cyprus (0.52%) also allocate more than 0.5% of their GDP to housing benefits.
Eurostat points out that housing policies are widespread in the Member States and their purpose often goes beyond that of social protection.
"They may be aimed at encouraging the building industry, ownership of dwellings, saving and so on. These wider measures are not within the scope of [social protection data],” the office said.
EU’s first-ever housing plan
The recently presented European Affordable Housing Plan focuses "on increasing housing supply, triggering investment and reforms, addressing short-term rentals in areas under housing stress and supporting the people most affected".
“Success of the plan will be determined by capacity at local level to meet those needs. Affordability should be our goal and the most affordable housing is public, cooperative, and social housing,” Marco Corradi, president of Housing Europe, said.
During the last decade, between 2015 and the third quarter of 2025, house prices in the EU increased by 64% and rents by 21% according to Eurostat.
In some European countries, a full salary is not enough to cover the rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the city centre. In many others, rent takes a significant share of the average net salary.
