Soaring rents and the cost of living crisis mean one in four families on a typical London street will have at least one adult child living with them, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed.
The pandemic may have played a role too, experts said, with some people returning to mum and dad while others are not ready to move out after being sapped of social confidence.
Across England and Wales, young men living with their parents outnumber young women by about three to two, and there has been an almost 15% rise in the number of "non-dependent adult children" living at home. The average age of this 4.9 million-strong population is now 24.
The figures suggest this family setup is persisting for longer, whether through children never leaving home or "boomeranging" - leaving for a while before coming back.
Despite the census being gathered during pandemic restrictions in 2021, the ONS said this appeared to be a long-term trend rather than symptomatic of that era.
"It can improve family dynamics," said Sue Atkins, a parenting coach whose 27-year-old son moved back during the pandemic for a couple of weeks and ended up staying for five months. "He didn't behave like a spoiled teenager. If he had sat around and behaved like that it wouldn't have worked."
This story is from the May 11, 2023 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the May 11, 2023 edition of The Guardian.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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