In this article, our writer, Bella, establishes who lives alone by taking a closer look and comparing factors like age, gender, income and location in countries across the globe.
“During the past half-century, our species has embarked on a remarkable social experiment. For the first time in human history, great numbers of people – of all ages, in all places, of every political persuasion – have begun settling down as singletons.”
That’s what the sociologist Eric Klinenberg said in Going Solo, his important book on the growing number of solo living people (whom he calls ‘singletons’).
The popularity of solo living, though, varies tremendously from one region of the world to another. It also differs greatly across the lifespan. There are gender differences, too – in the likelihood that they will live alone – men and women are not equals.
The differences in solo living by age, gender, and region of the world have been documented in a study published online in Population and Development Review. In “Living alone over the life course: Cross-national variations on an emerging issue,” Albert Esteve and his colleagues reported patterns from 113 nations: 29 from Europe and North America, 24 from Asia and Oceania, 37 from Africa, and 23 from Latin America and the Caribbean. In their analyses of differences across lifespan, they zeroed in on three age groups: (1) young adults, ages 25-29; (2) a middle group, 50-54; and (3) an older group, 75-79.
The psychology and economics of living alone – what should matter?
Two categories of factors are important in determining whether people will live solo:
1 Whether it is possible for them to do so, and
2 whether it is desirable.
That’s the framework I’m working with, taking into account the various factors mentioned by the authors and some other factors.)
Is it possible to live alone?
Wealthier nations
Living solo can be expensive. To live alone, people need to be able to afford it. Therefore, living alone is more likely to happen in wealthier nations.
Age
Older people are more likely to be able to afford to live alone in countries that provide social security or other pension systems.
Housing
The availability of affordable housing suitable for one-person households matters, too.
Living longer
Being single is an opportunity to live alone. In many places around the world, more people are living single longer because of demographic trends such as marrying later or not at all, getting divorced, and not remarrying as often after divorce. (Although some married people live apart in places of their own, the numbers are relatively small and not typically tracked in international studies, such as the one I’m describing).
Women and men living alone
Because women outlive men, there are more women than men among the oldest demographics. That particular demographic pattern provides an opportunity for more older women to live alone. Overall, increases in longevity are also important, especially in places where the health of older people is improving—that way, they can take better care of themselves on their own.
Digital communication
The internet and other advances in communication technology have made it more possible for people to live solo without feeling isolated. People who have access to these technologies allows them to stay at home and stay in touch with the world. Increasing urbanisation also helps. In cities, people can find other people not far from their doorstep with access to services like food, entertainment, transportation, and other services.
Is it desirable to live alone?
In many places, family ties are highly valued. That includes living with family members. People in those places are unlikely to be interested in living alone, even if they stay unmarried for many years and can afford a place of their own. Living alone may even be stigmatised in countries where intergenerational living is commonplace.
Individualism
Fueling the global increase in living alone is a highly consequential trend in the opposite direction of family orientation – the rise of individualism. Over the past half-century, more people are embracing values such as independence, self-expression, and personal choice. They want to live the kind of life that works best for them, even if that sets them apart from more conventional or celebrated life paths, such as marrying and having children.
Women’s power and independence have been increasing in many places. In the context of growing individualism, more women are likely to be interested in having a place of their own.
Who lives alone?
Proportionately to other household types, many more people live alone in Europe and North America than in any of the other regions studied. Latin America and Africa are more family-oriented; fewer people live alone. “Asia emerges as the most familial of all,” Esteve and his colleagues concluded.
How many people live alone across different life stages?
People in their middle adult years are least likely to live solo, and the oldest adults are most likely to live on their own.
- Among the youngest adults, ages 25-29, the number who living solo in the 113 nations ranges from 0 to 32%. (Zero doesn’t mean that no one lives alone, but that rounding to the nearest whole number gives you an answer of zero per cent.) Of the high number of young adults living alone, 32% belongs to Germany. It is in Germany and Switzerland, where nearly 1 of every 3 adults aged between 25 and 29 live alone.
- Among the middle group of adults, ages 50-54, the number who are solo living ranges from 0 to 19%. The UK has the highest percentage of 50-54-year-olds who live alone. Further, middle-agers will be the fastest-growing group of people living alone in the future, at least in the UK.
- For the oldest group, ages 75-79, the number who live alone ranges from 0 to 53%. Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the UK have the largest percentages of older people living alone.
In 63 of the 113 nations (56%), fewer than 5% of young adults aged between 25-29 live alone. In general, living alone as a young adult is very unusual in most places around the globe.
In 50 of the 113 countries (44%), fewer than 5% of the people in the 50-54 age group live alone.
The oldest group (ages 75-79) looks very different. Although there is one country out of the 113 where the percentage of people who live alone rounds to zero (an unspecified African nation), in many other countries, the rate of living alone is two to three times higher than it is for the middle group.
Who is more likely to live alone – men or women?
Gender differences in living alone are completely different for the youngest and oldest adults.
- Among adults ages 25-29, men are more likely to live alone than women in nearly all 113 nations.
- In the middle group, ages 50-54, men are still more likely to live alone, but the differences are smaller, and in many countries, more women than men live alone. This middle group has the lowest overall percentages of people (both men and women) living alone.
- The pattern completely flips for the oldest adults, aged 75-79. In the vast majority of countries, a greater percentage of women than men live alone—often a much greater percentage.
Although young men are more likely to live alone than young women in all four regions of the world that the authors studied, the differences are not equally great. In Europe and North America, there are 1.4 young men living alone for every 1 young woman living alone. In Latin America, there are 2.7 young men living alone for every woman, 3.7 in Asia, and a whopping 7.4 in Africa.
In the oldest group, the percentages of women living alone are particularly striking in almost all European and North American countries.
How important is marital status in determining who lives alone?
In a way, marital status is extremely important. Overwhelmingly, people who are unmarried— divorced or widowed or have always been single—are most likely to live alone.
But marital status is not the whole story. Even when comparisons are limited to people of the same marital status (only those who have always been single, for example), there are still big differences by age, gender, and regions of the world.
Unmarried people who do not have the opportunity to live alone or have the interest in living alone will instead live with other people—often family. Among young adults, those family members are most likely their parents. Middle-aged and older adults who are unmarried will often live with their kids if they have any.
How much does economic development matter?
If income matters, then wealthier countries will have higher percentages of people who live alone, as individuals with more income will be more likely to live alone. Income provides an opportunity to live alone, but that won’t necessarily translate to living alone if people are not interested or if there are other barriers. A correlation between income and living alone suggests the degree to which economic opportunities are translated into actual life choices.
The authors had access to a Human Development Index, which included measures of income, as well as education and longevity, for each country. Unsurprisingly, the countries that scored as more highly developed, according to the Index, were the ones with the higher percentages of people living alone.
People’s income, education, and longevity mattered most in the European and North American nations. Those correlations were the highest. People in those countries were most likely to take advantage of the opportunities that their income, education, and long life afforded them to live alone.
The correlations were also especially strong for older women. They were especially likely to live alone when they had the opportunity to do so.
The remarkable social experiment marches on
The “remarkable social experiment” in living solo, described by Eric Klinenberg, is marching on. More and more people, in many places around the world, have the opportunity to live alone. But that doesn’t mean they all want to.
The interplay of the opportunities for solo living, with interest in living alone, determines who actually does live alone. So far, it is older women who are leading the way. They are especially likely to take advantage of the opportunity to have a place of their own.
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