Toddlers in Asia sleep in their parents' bed more often
In a large questionnaire study conducted between 2006 and 2008, parents of 29,287 children aged 0-3 across 17 countries reported where their child usually slept at night. In Vietnam, 83% of the children slept in their parents' bed, compared with 5% in the UK.
What this means
- It was most common in the Western countries included in the study for young children not to sleep in their parents' bed. The Western countries in the study were the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK.
- The UK was the only European country included, so we do not know where the rest of Europe would fall on the same measure.
- The figures below for the rest of Europe, Asia and the Middle East cover different ages and use different methods, so they cannot be compared with one another.
- One of the most widely repeated figures about co-sleeping, “93% of 3-10-year-olds”, is based on just 103 children at a single hospital. See the fact-check below.
We have not found any data on where children sleep in Ireland.
Where do children aged 0-3 sleep?
The proportion of children in each country who slept in their parents' bed or in their own room. The same questionnaire was used in all 17 countries. The two figures should not be added together: for example, a child may sleep in their own bed in their parents' room.
Source: Mindell et al. 2010, Table 5; falling asleep alone: Mindell et al. 2010b.
You may use the graphic under these terms. The studies the figures are based on belong to the researchers.
Figures from the rest of Europe
Each figure relates to a different age group and year, and was measured using a different method. They therefore cannot be combined into a single ranking.
of 1,012 parents with children aged 0-17 living at home typically sleep in the same bed as at least one of their children
Survey conducted 6-9 December 2019 · YouGov for Boliusof parents of 3-4-year-olds typically sleep in the same bed as their child. The group sizes are not reported
Separate breakdown from the same survey (2019) · Sovende Børn reproduces the custom data extractof children in Zürich slept in their parents' bed at least once a week at some point between the ages of 2 and 7. The figure peaked at age 4: 38 %
Zürich, data from 1974-2001 · Jenni et al. 2005, 493 childrenof schoolchildren aged 4-18 slept with their parents at least once a week. The study does not state whether they shared the same bed or simply the same room
Lausanne study, published in 2016 · Jacquier and Newman 2017, 2,891 schoolchildrenof 4-5-year-olds in Leipzig usually slept in their parents' bed or a sibling's bed
Leipzig, data from 2018-2024 · Poulain et al. 2026, 101 childrenof Italian children aged 1-2 slept with their parents in a nationwide survey
Chindamo 2019, cited in a 2021 review · Italian research reviewof Italian children aged 3-5 spent most of the night in their parents' bed on the night before a visit to the paediatrician. Among 10-14-year-olds, the figure was 5.7%
2015, 72 paediatricians across Italy · Brambilla et al. 2017, 2,030 childrenof the Italian schoolchildren in the study regularly slept with their parents for extended periods
Cortesi et al. 2004 · 901 Italian schoolchildrenof British children aged 0-3 slept in their parents' bed (the same study as the chart above)
Online questionnaire, 2006-2008 · Mindell et al. 2010, 800 British childrenof Swedish children aged 10-18 with a Swedish background have their own room, compared with 64% of children with a foreign background. The figure relates to rooms, not where the children sleep
SCB (Statistics Sweden), reproduced in 2010 · Svenska DagbladetYou may use the graphic under these terms. The studies and measurements the figures are based on belong to those who produced them.
Figures from Asia and the Middle East
Recent studies of older children and toddlers in individual cities and regions, rather than entire countries. Each figure was measured differently.
of preschool children aged 3–6 slept alone. The remaining 93.6% slept with their parents: 65.9% in the same bed and the rest in the same room
19 cities and counties, published in 2016 · Lo 2016, 1,253 childrenof the young children in Shanghai had never shared a bed with their parents when surveyed at 2, 6 and 24 months. 43.6% shared a bed throughout
Shanghai, published in 2022 · Yang et al. 2022, 1,564 childrenof children aged 1 month to 4 years shared a bed with their parents. The figure includes children under one
Jeddah, 2025–2026 · Mazi et al. 2026, 437 childrenof boys and 77.2% of girls across eight schools shared a bed with their family
Uttarakhand, published 2016 · Gupta et al. 2016, 831 schoolchildrenYou may use the graphic under these terms. The studies the figures are based on belong to the researchers.
“93% of 3-10-year-olds sleep with their parents”
This figure is widely shared online, often without naming a country. Where does it come from?
The claim
“93% of all 3- to 10-year-olds”
Wikipedia and the media present this figure as fact for children aged 3-10, often without mentioning which country it comes from.
The source
103 children · 1 hospital
The figure comes from 103 healthy children aged 3-10 who visited a single hospital in Chandigarh, India, between September 2003 and March 2004, for reasons such as vaccination. Of these children, 93% slept with their parents, even though many of the families had a spare bedroom.
Our assessment
Correct figure, wrong use
The figure applies to 103 children at a single hospital. It is not a figure for India, let alone the world. A similar figure, 97.5%, comes from 650 children aged 1-12 at a single hospital in Puducherry (2015-2016).
Source: Bharti, Malhi and Kashyap 2006 (Chandigarh); Barathy et al. 2017 (Puducherry).
You may use the graphic under these terms. The studies the figures are based on belong to the researchers.
How we calculated it
The study: Mindell et al. (2010) asked the parents of 29,287 children aged 0-3 across 17 countries to complete an online questionnaire between 2006 and 2008. Most participants lived in urban areas and had a high level of education. The study was funded by Johnson & Johnson, a company that sells baby products. The figures are taken from Table 5. The study abstract names New Zealand as having the lowest figure at 5.8%, but the table gives the UK a figure of 5.0%.
The newer figures: The figures for Italy (ages 3-5), Switzerland (schoolchildren), Taiwan, Shanghai, Jeddah and Uttarakhand come from individual studies, often covering just one city, several paediatricians or several schools. Taiwan's breakdown into bed-sharing, room-sharing and sleeping alone comes from the study's table, which we have not rechecked ourselves. The study abstract gives an overall co-sleeping figure of 93.6% (sharing either a bed or a room). The figure from Jeddah includes babies. The Danish figure of 23% comes from a separate data extract that we know only through Sovende Børn's reporting.
What is not included: A follow-up study of 3- to 6-year-olds (Mindell 2013) is not included because the journal later corrected the table. No study compares the whole of Europe, so the European figures are shown separately, along with the age group, year and method used.
Country-level figures tell you nothing about your child: Differences between countries cannot be used to draw conclusions about an individual child.