Australia has emerged as the home of the McMansion, with a new study showing it has some of the largest houses and smallest households in the world.

The study says two-thirds of Australian homeowners live in a house with an average size of 214 sq m. It is followed by New Zealand and the United States at around 200 sq m, Canada, at 181 sq m, Malta at 160sq m, Cyprus 141 sq m, and Denmark 137 sq m.

At the same time, Australia has an average household size of 2.5 people, and nearly half of the population lives in a two to three-person household. Almost a quarter of households accommodate just one person.

The study by The Perfect Rug ranks countries based on average square metreage, but also takes into consideration average household size per country. A spokesperson says overcrowding is a clear problem for many countries including Greece, New Zealand and Mexico.

According to Census figures, there are only 15 suburbs in Australia with a housing density higher than 110 homes per hectare.