“Living with parents”: An emergency solution that plagues couples in Iraq
“Living with parents”: An emergency solution that plagues couples in Iraq
2026-07-31
Shafaq News – Baghdad
Economic conditions and high rental prices are pushing many young Iraqis who are about to get married or who are newly married to live with their families, due to their inability to rent independent homes.
Over time, social, psychological, and familial problems associated with this type of housing emerge, particularly given the limited space of the homes. Many houses in the capital, Baghdad, range between 50 and 100 square meters, an area that, according to citizens, is insufficient to accommodate an additional family.
“I chose to stay in the family home because the rents are very high,” says young Hassan Hammadi, speaking to Shafaq News Agency. “An apartment with an area of 50 meters costs no less than 450,000 dinars per month, depending on the neighborhood and the area, as prices also vary greatly.”
He believes that living with the family is good for a young man at the beginning of his marriage, as it relieves him of rent and the associated financial obligations, thus enabling him to save money.
The young man Ali Saadoun agrees with Hassan Hammadi, as he prepared for himself a room made of “sandwich panels” on the roof of his grandfather’s house, which is 100 square meters.
Saadoun explains to Shafaq News Agency the advantages of living with the family, saying: “If I rented a separate house, I would have to pay 600,000 dinars or more per month, in addition to the electricity generator and internet fees.”
Based on this information, Saado decided to live in his grandfather’s house and share the generator and internet fees, which do not exceed 150,000 dinars per month, thus saving at least 500,000 dinars, according to his calculations.
Regarding the limited space, Saadoun explains: “Necessity knows no law. We poor people endure everything and cooperate to make things easier. I work as a tuk-tuk driver, and what I earn is enough to cover my family’s essential expenses.”
But the situation is different for wives, as such a residence is a cause of disputes and family problems. Haifa Qasim told Shafaq News Agency: “I have been living for three years with my husband’s family of 10 people, and I am a mother of two children, and our married life is not free of problems for this reason.”
She notes that living with the family “confiscates privacy even with the children because their grandmother and uncles interfere in raising my children, and whenever I want to teach them some things and behaviors, I face opposition from my husband’s family, and they reject all my attempts to raise and discipline my children as I want.”
She confirms that her husband’s mother interferes in everything, “even in choosing my clothes, my adornment, and the food I prepare for my husband, in addition to her interference and harshness with my two children,” noting that she has threatened more than once to request a divorce if she does not get independent housing and end this “suffering,” but she always finds an excuse for her husband because of his financial situation, as he works for a meager daily wage.
Nadia Kazem shares this opinion, as she too faces difficulties living with her husband’s family because it deprives the couple of their privacy, and this leads to a number of problems that may end in divorce.
Kazem told Shafaq News Agency: “I have endured enough cruelty from my husband’s family and their strange behavior towards me and the children, who are fed up inside a small room and need a yard to play and jump around.”
She adds: “As soon as one of my children starts playing outside the room, my mother-in-law starts screaming and kicks him out into the street. This hurts me a lot because a child’s world is about playing, so how can he be deprived of that and kicked out into the street?”
She notes that she tried more than once to avoid problems and clashes, but that was to no avail, indicating that she suggested to her husband that she move to live with her family, but he strongly refused.
She continues: “When I despaired of a stable married life and devoting myself to raising children, I had no other solution but to request a divorce. It is inconceivable that four families could live in an area of 50 square meters.”
While living with the parents reduces the financial burdens and expenses in light of the difficult economic conditions, many disadvantages appear on the other hand, especially if the house is small.
In this regard, economic analyst Burhan Al-Bahadli explained in a statement to Shafaq News Agency that the rise in rents not only affects the ability of young people to get married, but also changes the shape of the family and society in the long term, stressing that one of the most prominent effects resulting from the rise in rents is the decrease in marriage rates and the delay in the age of marriage.
He points out that “the phenomenon of shared housing with parents puts pressure on small houses, and the rise in rents may create a gap between generations in the long run, as owning or renting an independent residence becomes a privilege that only high-income earners can obtain, while middle- and low-income earners remain dependent on family housing.”
From a psychological standpoint, the housing crisis and high rents make marriage a postponed project, and this matter carries with it many psychological crises.
Psychology academic Ahmed Al-Dhahabi told Shafaq News Agency that rising rents deprive young people of the right to start an independent marriage and at the same time lead to marital disputes that may last for years and may end in separation.
He points out that “the housing crisis is worsening, and according to official data, the deficit amounts to more than four million housing units.”
Al-Dhahabi notes that “choosing to live with one’s parents is a temporary solution because it causes numerous psychological problems in the future in the areas of living, behavior, privacy, raising children, and other aspects of married life.”
He points out that one of the most prominent problems of living with parents is “the loss of marital privacy, especially at the beginning, when the couple is in dire need of getting to know each other’s personalities and making their own decisions about certain matters away from the interference of others.”
He notes that “living with the parents makes the couple feel that they are being watched, and therefore they cannot express their feelings freely, in addition to the interventions and conflicting opinions of the father, mother, brother or sister, which may lead to the magnification of minor disagreements between the couple, which makes the wife find herself facing two authorities, namely the authority of the husband and the authority of his family, and the husband feels torn between pleasing his wife and pleasing his parents.”
Al-Dhahabi concludes by saying that “the multiplicity of authorities and conflicting opinions within the home negatively affect the child’s psyche and mentality, as he must be raised in a healthy environment in which there are no contradictions or conflicting behaviors and actions.”
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