Countries by Overcrowded Housing
Complete ranking of 35 countries • Percentage of households • Updated 2026
About Households Living In Overcrowded Conditions Rankings
Latvia leads all 35 countries in Households Living In Overcrowded Conditions with a value of 32.83, while New Zealand ranks last at 0.70. This represents a 47-fold difference between the highest and lowest values.
What Households Living In Overcrowded Conditions Measures
Households Living In Overcrowded Conditions is a comparative indicator tracked across countries by the OECD. It provides a quantitative basis for cross-national comparison, enabling researchers and policymakers to benchmark national performance on this dimension against global peers.
Why This Ranking Matters
Examining Households Living In Overcrowded Conditions across all countries reveals patterns that might not be obvious at the national level. Regional clusters, outlier nations, and historical trajectories all become clearer when the full global picture is assembled in a single ranking.
Global Range
Values range from 0.70 (New Zealand) to 32.83 (Latvia) — a 47-fold difference across 35 countries.
Regional Patterns
European countries dominate this ranking, holding 17 of the top 20 positions. This strong regional concentration suggests shared economic, geographic, or policy factors that drive higher values across the continent.
Values are broadly distributed across countries, with the middle 50% ranging from 4.26 to 16.917. The overall spread from 0.70 to 32.83 reflects significant global variation.
Notable Outliers
The top of the ranking is competitive: Latvia and Colombia are separated by only 2%, indicating that the leading positions could shift with updated data.
Continental Leaders
Highest Ranked
The top five countries for Households Living In Overcrowded Conditions are Latvia (32.83), Colombia (32.216), Mexico (29.974), Poland (28.398), and Turkey (23.843). Together, these nations represent the global leaders in this metric.
Lowest Ranked
At the other end of the spectrum, New Zealand (0.70), United Kingdom (0.77), Japan (1.57), Ireland (2.75), and Netherlands (3.47) have the lowest values globally.
Data Source & Methodology
Rankings are based on the latest available data from OECD, covering 35 of 249 countries and territories. Countries without data for this metric are excluded from the ranking. All values represent the most recently reported figures.
Top 10 Countries
Full Rankings
| Percentile | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st |  Latvia | 32.8% | Europe | 100% |
| 2nd |  Colombia | 32.2% | North America | 97% |
| 3rd |  Mexico | 30.0% | North America | 94% |
| 4th |  Poland | 28.4% | Europe | 91% |
| 5th |  Turkey | 23.8% | Europe | 89% |
| 6th |  Slovakia | 22.7% | Europe | 86% |
| 7th |  Greece | 17.9% | Europe | 83% |
| 8th |  Lithuania | 17.3% | Europe | 80% |
| 9th |  Italy | 16.9% | Europe | 77% |
| 10th |  Sweden | 15.7% | Europe | 74% |
| 11th |  Estonia | 12.6% | Europe | 71% |
| 12th |  Austria | 11.7% | Europe | 69% |
| 13th |  Czechia | 10.9% | Europe | 66% |
| 14th |  Finland | 10.3% | Europe | 63% |
| 15th |  Chile | 9.3% | South America | 60% |
| 16th |  Iceland | 9.2% | Europe | 57% |
| 17th |  Germany | 9.0% | Europe | 54% |
| 18th |  Hungary | 8.9% | Europe | 51% |
| 19th |  Slovenia | 8.5% | Europe | 49% |
| 20th |  Denmark | 8.4% | Europe | 46% |
| 21st |  Costa Rica | 8.0% | North America | 43% |
| 22nd |  France | 7.4% | Europe | 40% |
| 23rd |  Norway | 7.0% | Europe | 37% |
| 24th |  Switzerland | 5.0% | Europe | 34% |
| 25th |  Luxembourg | 4.8% | Europe | 31% |
| 26th |  United States | 4.4% | North America | 29% |
| 27th |  Portugal | 4.3% | Europe | 26% |
| 28th |  Belgium | 4.0% | Europe | 23% |
| 29th |  South Korea | 4.0% | Asia | 20% |
| 30th |  Spain | 3.8% | Europe | 17% |
| 31st |  Netherlands | 3.5% | Europe | 14% |
| 32nd |  Ireland | 2.8% | Europe | 11% |
| 33rd |  Japan | 1.6% | Asia | 9% |
| 34th |  United Kingdom | 0.8% | Europe | 6% |
| 35th |  New Zealand | 0.7% | Oceania | 3% |