One in six people live in overcrowded homes in Europe, with many living without indoor flushing toilets or showers in former Communist states, EU figures showed.

Living conditions vary widely in the 27-nation EU: one per cent of the population of Cyprus lives in packed homes compared to 3.7 per cent in Ireland, 7.2 per cent in Britain and 23.3 per cent in Italy.

The rates are the highest among former Communist bloc nations, from 47 per cent in Bulgaria to 55.3 per cent in Romania and an EU-leading 57.7 per cent in Latvia, according to the Eurostat data agency, citing 2009 figures.

Overall, nearly 16 per cent of people in Europe live under leaking roofs or homes with dampness in the walls, floors or foundation or rot in window frames or floors.

The sanitary conditions among EU states are also vastly different.

Some 43 per cent of Romanians, 26 per cent of Bulgarians and 17 per cent of Lithuanians and Latvians live in homes with no indoor flushing toilets, compared to less then one per cent in 15 other EU states. Less than one per cent of people in 17 EU nations lived in homes with no baths or showers, compared to 41 per cent in Romania, 18 per cent in Latvia and 16 per cent in Lithuania and Bulgaria.

Eurostat considers a person as living in an overcrowded home if the household does not contain one room per individual or, in the case of a couple, one room per couple.

Under the EU criteria, each girl and boy aged 12 or older should also have her or his own room, but a pair of children of the same sex can share one room.