Wealthy countries with plenty of space search the most
We compared Google searches across 26 European countries against two factors: how wealthy each country is and how many children live in overcrowded homes. The pattern is clear: the richer the country and the more space children have, the more parents google children's sleep. This applies to co-sleeping, family beds and sleep training. But it does not tell us what causes the pattern, and with only 26 countries, one or two countries can change the overall picture.
What this means
- Parents in wealthy countries with plenty of living space search most for information about children's sleep, including co-sleeping, family beds and sleep training.
- However, whether parents lean towards co-sleeping or sleep training is not linked to how wealthy the country is or how many children live in overcrowded homes.
- This is a pattern, not an explanation. Wealthier countries also have more living space, so we cannot separate wealth from space.
- Searches show interest, not how many families actually co-sleep. Measures of where children actually sleep show the opposite pattern: worldwide, co-sleeping is most common in poorer countries.
United Kingdom ranks 11 out of the 26 countries by wealth, measured by GDP per capita in 2025. 8.7% of children live in overcrowded homes (2018). There are 317 Google searches for co-sleeping and family bed each year per 1,000 children born, ranking the country 9 out of 26.
Wealth, living space and Google searches
Each dot represents a country. Tap a dot to select that country. Choose which searches to display.
The wealthier the country, the more people search for co-sleeping and family beds. And the more children who live in overcrowded homes, the fewer the searches. The pattern is clear, but it does not reveal the cause. German-speaking countries sit far above the others, even though they are not the wealthiest. Ireland is furthest to the right because its GDP is inflated by large foreign companies.
Vertical axis: Searches for co-sleeping and family beds per 1,000 children born. The higher up, the more searches. Each step up the axis (10, 30, 100, 300, 1,000) represents roughly 3 times as many searches.
How wealthy is the country?
Horizontal axis: how wealthy the country is, measured by GDP per capita in dollars (2025). The figure accounts for differences in prices between countries. It is not a measure of people's earnings. The wealthiest countries are furthest to the right.
How many children live in overcrowded homes?
Horizontal axis: the proportion of children under 18 living in a home with too few rooms for their family (2025). The further right, the higher the proportion of children living in overcrowded homes.
Source: Google's search volume tool (Oct 2025 to Sep 2026); World Bank, GDP per capita at purchasing power parity, 2025; Eurostat, children living in overcrowded homes (ilc_lvho05a); Calculation: FamBed.
Searches are not the same as actually co-sleeping. Studies of where children actually sleep show the opposite pattern to the search data: co-sleeping is most common where space is most limited, but searches are highest where people have the most space. See where children sleep.
How we calculated it
Wealth: GDP per capita at purchasing power parity (World Bank, 2025). The figure is adjusted so that price levels can be compared across countries. Ireland's GDP is inflated by large foreign companies; excluding Ireland, the correlation is almost the same (rho 0.80 instead of 0.82).
Overcrowded homes: Eurostat's measure of how many children under 18 live in a home with too few rooms for their family. The figures are from 2025, except for Switzerland, where they are from 2024, and Great Britain, where they are from 2018, the latest year for which Eurostat has data.
How strong is the correlation? We used a rank correlation (Spearman's rho). It ranges from -1 to 1 and shows whether the countries appear in the same order on two lists. 0 means no correlation. Wealth and searches for co-sleeping and family beds: rho 0.82. Overcrowded homes: rho -0.71. Sleep training: rho 0.65 and -0.73. The balance between co-sleeping and sleep training: rho -0.24 and 0.14, neither of which can be distinguished from chance.
Cause: Wealth and space are themselves closely correlated (rho between 0.67 and 0.88), so we cannot tell which is responsible. A correlation between countries also tells us nothing about individual families.
The axes: The vertical search axis uses steps where each represents roughly 3 times as many searches: 10, 30, 100, 300, 1,000. Otherwise, the many countries with low search volumes would overlap at the bottom.