ONS also says those already on own are less financially secure than couples without children

Nearly one in seven people in the UK could be living alone by 2039, according to government figures, which also reveal that those currently living alone are more likely to be renting and feel less financially secure than couples without children.

Analysis from the Office for National Statistics also shows the number of single-person households in the UK is rising sharply.

The number of those living on their own increased by 16% between 1997 and 2017, to 7.7 million, said the ONS, which predicted that 10.7 million people could be living alone in 20 years’ time.

The study also found people living on their own spend an average 92% of their disposable income, compared with two-adult households who spend 83%.

And the costs are not just financial: when it comes to wellbeing, those living on their own report lower levels of happiness and higher levels of anxiety than those living with a partner and no children.

The Guardian recently reported that more than 1 million people aged over 65 without children were “dangerously unsupported” and at acute risk of isolation, loneliness, poor health, poverty and being unable to access formal care.

The number of childless older people in the UK is expected to double by 2030, said Kirsty Woodard, the founder of the organisation Ageing Well Without Children (AWwoC).

The new research found the rise in single-person households was greater than the population increase of 13% and largely concentrated in midlife and older age groups: the number of people aged 25 to 44 living alone has fallen by 16% over the period, while the number of 45- to 64-year-olds living on their own has increased by 53%.

The increase, the analysis found, was partly due to the large number of children born in the 1960s reaching older age, but may also be down to a change in our relationships, with more people in this age group being divorced or single than there were 15 years ago.

“It is often presumed that older people have someone who can look after them, but this isn’t always the case,” said George McNamara, the director of policy and influencing at the charity Independent Age. “We need an overhaul of the social care system to ensure that older people are not left stranded and without the care they deserve because they live alone.”

One in six people aged 45 to 64 – 2.4 million people and about 14% of this age group – live alone in the UK. Of those on their own, people in their late 50s and early 60s are the most likely to be divorced (42% of 55- to 64-year-olds).

“If we concentrate on those aged 25 to 64, we can see that most of those who live alone (60%) are men … but the gap between the sexes narrows as age increases,” the research concluded.

Dr Aideen Young, the evidence manager at the Centre for Ageing Better, whose State of Ageing in 2019 report focused on this issue, said: “More people living alone has implications for people’s cost of living, the type of housing they need, and the kind of care and support they might need in later life, in the absence of help from those they live with.”



