You’ve got a 25 per cent chance of living with your parents when you’re 34

Almost 50 per cent of those aged 20 to 24 are still living with their parents.

Graduate prospects are looking grim as a huge number of mollycoddled youngsters are climbing back into the family nest after graduating.

Info released by the Office for National Statistics also says that a quarter of 34-year-olds live with their parents.

Campbell Robb, chief exec of housing charity Shelter told the Metro that this trend was typical of the “clipped-wing generation” who can’t afford to rent homes and are incapable of doing their own laundry.

And the chief exec of the National Housing Federation said “empty nest syndrome is becoming a thing of the past”.

David Orr continued: “Rather than waving their children off as they move out, parents are stuck with adult kids living in their childhood bedrooms for longer.

“With so many now locked out of home ownership and struggling with rents, we’re calling on government to commit to end the housing crisis to ensure the situation doesn’t continue to worsen.”

And it seems that fleeing home is a symptom of the chronically single.

Jim Odell from OnePlusOne said marrying late and staying at home are linked. He said: “[Marriage] is seen more as a milestone to reach once other goals have been met.”

Tom Jenkin, 23, who recently graduated from Nottingham Trent said: “I live with my parents out of convenience. It’s only an hour commute, and they don’t charge me for rent or food.

“It’s good in that respect, but really, I cry a little every time I walk home from the station.

“Having to ask for a lift is still the most degrading thing since my sister dressed me up as a ballerina.”