Houses

This area is included to provide some figures for comparisons – how big regular houses are, how much living space per capita people actually have, and may be used to have.

  • Around 75 m2 (800 ft2) per person i North America (72 m2 / 779 ft2 in Canada, 77 m2 / 832 ft2 in US) – and that is a lot for most people around the rest of the world, and up towards twice as much space per person compared to European averages…
  • 30-45 m2 (323-484 ft2) / person averages in Europe

Of course, averages on this high level (whole countries) are rather pointless, with ridiculous differences depending on (e.g.) living in an apartment on Manhattan in New York City or out on a ranch in rural Texas.

Average house size by country

How big is a house? Average house size by country – shrinkthatfootprint.com/how-big-is-a-house

Countryhouse, m2house, sq.ft.m2/capitaSF/capita
Australia214230389960
United States201216477832
Canada181194872779
Denmark137147565702
Greece126135645484
France112120643464
Germany109117355587
Spain97104435373
Japan95102335379
Sweden8389340425
Italy8187231335
United Kingdom7681833356
China*6064620215
Russia5761422237
Hong Kong4548415161

* China figures urban only

More from the article:

“If Graham Hill lives by himself then his trendy 39  m2 (420 ft2) is similar to someone from Sweden.  In fact in the range from 30-45  m2 (323-484 ft2) are the averages for Italy, the UK, Japan, Spain, Sweden, France and Greece.

At our place we have 110  m2(1,184 ft2) for a family of four, which is 27  m2 (291 ft2) per person.  Having previously lived in a few different flats of 50-60 m2 as a couple this feels pretty palatial, and is certainly more than enough for us.  But 30  m2 per person is much more generous in a four person family than it is in a studio apartment for one.

In London they have a new minimum space standard as part of the London Plan.  For new flats the minimum standards are 37 m2 (398 ft2) for one person, 50 m2 (538 ft2) for two people in one bedroom, 61 m2 (657 ft2) for three people with two bedrooms, 70 m2 (753 ft2) for four people in two bedrooms and 74 m2 (797 ft2) for four people in three bedrooms.  Are these enough space?”