Patterns
Sociologist Eric Klinenberg reports that before the 1950s, no society had large numbers of people living alone. Historically, this has happened when elderly people outlive their spouses, and when men have migrated for work. In modern times, large numbers of people have begun to live happily alone in cities and with the help of communication technologies like the telephone, email, and social networking services. Klinenberg has found that the ability of women to work, own property, and initiate divorce creates more opportunities for living alone; in countries like Saudi Arabia where women do not have autonomy, few people live alone. [6]
Single people may live alone before their first romantic partner, after separation, divorce, the end of a cohabiting relationship or after their partner has died. Couples, married or not, may maintain separate residences as an alternative to cohabitation in a long distance relationship, a temporary separation due to troubles in the relationship, or simply living apart together. Since the late twentieth century, marriages across the developed world have often ended in divorce. At the same time, people increasingly choose to remain single. [7] [8] The Economist estimated that between the mid-2010s and the mid-2020s, the share of people who live alone around the globe, voluntarily and otherwise, had risen by over a hundred million. [9]
The share of singletons is correlated with how wealthy the country is. [10] In the United States, individuals saw their inflation-adjusted or real income rose by 51 percent from 1969 to 1996, compared to only 6 percent for households over the same period. [11] : 66 In wealthy countries, people are more likely to choose the privacy, individualism, independence, and sometimes the isolation of living alone. [10] [12] However, surveys suggest that only a minority of single individuals actually prefer living that way. [9] Indeed, while marriage rates have declined, the prevalence of cohabitation (formerly referred to as "living in sin") has gone up. [13] : 159 At the same time, significant numbers are critical of marriage, viewing it as an institution that reinforces the subjugation of women and unnecessary for a fulfilling or happy life, [13] : 159 though some remain open to that option. [14]
Nevertheless, across Europe, each demographic cohort born after the Second World War has been more likely to be single than the previous one at the same age. [9] In the Scandinavian countries, single-person households have become commonplace. [15] Data from the Census Bureau of the United States shows that the average number of individuals per household in that country has been falling since at least 1966. [11] : 66 By the 2020s, more Americans of all age groups are living alone than in the past. [16] How common singletons are also depends on how much people value their individual autonomy. [12] In some developed nations such as the United Kingdom and the United States, women with university degrees have outnumbered men of the same age group since the late twentieth century, and these women are less keen on finding a romantic match or marriage. [12] [9] [17] In East Asia, urban and highly educated women are wary of the high opportunity cost of marriage in their patriarchal societies; they may have to give up on their careers and incomes to take care of their in-laws, parents, children, and do housework, something men prefer not to do. [9] A similar trend is found in Europe and the United States, even though traditional gender roles are not as strictly enforced as in East Asia. [9] Growing amounts of time spent on electronic devices—in particular, to play video game s, to stream music and videos, and to interact with artificially intelligent companions—is behind the rising number of single individuals. [9] Furthermore, in a country where few children are born out of wedlock like Japan, those who do not want to have children also avoid getting married. [18]
By contrast, in poor countries, most people live with their extended families, which provide material, social, and emotional support to each other, as well as imposing the responsibility of similarly caring for other family members. [10]
Living alone has been found to significantly increase the risk of depression and is associated with other negative mental and physical health outcomes, especially among men, older people, and rural residents. [19]
