Davide Mastracci, 25, has been living alone for almost a year. And now that he’s experienced it, he doesn’t think he could go back to living with a roommate.

“When you live by yourself you basically have total control over your place. You can set it up however you want,” said Mastracci, who is a freelance journalist. “I work from home so living by myself is good because it’s always quiet so I can comfortably work and not have to worry about any distractions.”

Despite living by himself, Mastracci isn’t alone in his living situation. Canadians are increasingly living in one-person households and without children, according to the latest census released by Statistics Canada.

In 2016, people living on their own — accounting for 28.2 per cent of all households — surpassed all other types of living situations. It has increased dramatically since 1951 when it was 7.4 per cent.

The trend as a whole has pros and cons, according to Barbara Mitchell, a professor of sociology and gerontology at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. For some, like young women trying to launch their careers who have a social network to rely on, or those going through a divorce looking for a time of self-discovery, it can be a good thing. For others, like elderly men and women who are vulnerable to social isolation or health problems, it might have drawbacks.

One-person households are common in other countries, too. According to Statistics Canada, the Canadian rate was similar to that of the United States (27.5 per cent in 2012) and the United Kingdom (28.5 per cent in 2014) but lower than a number of other industrialized countries including Japan (34.5 per cent in 2015), Norway (40.0 per cent in 2012) and Germany (41.4 per cent in 2015).

“It’s a long-term trend but it has not been slowed by recent economic difficulties around the world,” said Eric Klinenberg, a New York University sociology professor and the author of a 2011 book called Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone. “It’s surprising it kept on increasing, even in places that have had recessions.”

According to Statistics Canada, the rise in one-person households can be attributed to a number of economic and demographic factors, including income redistribution and pensions, which has resulted in more people being economically independent in 2016 than they were in previous years. An aging population and higher life expectancy has also played a role.

Klinenberg said economic stability has allowed for people to “live however it feels best,” which is happening with older demographics. Approximately 43 per cent of those aged 85 and up live alone and 33 per cent of those between the ages of 80 and 84 live in one-person households, according to Statistics Canada.

“A century ago if you were old and a spouse died, you had no choice but to move in with your children,” Klinenberg said. “Today, older people tend to feel their dignity and their sense of integrity depends on being able to live alone and if they have to move in with children they experience that as a real blow.”

An increased presence of women in the workforce, as well as higher separation and divorce rates has also played a role. More women (53.7 per cent) than men are living alone.

Mitchell, who studies changing family structures, said women nowadays have invested a lot in secondary education.

“A lot of them don’t want to be like a 1950s family nuclear model, where as a young woman you finished high school, got married, had kids and so on,” Mitchell said. “It was more of a predictable life course and now it seems like there’s more diversity with respect to the choices that people can make and it’s more socially acceptable to live on your own.”

Additionally, Klinenberg said women no longer have to stay in a bad marriage for economic reasons, which pushes the divorce rate up and can lead to more one-person households.

Urbanization also plays a role in increased single living, according to Klinenberg, who said many people live alone in specific concentrated neighbourhoods in cities like Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver.

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“You can live alone but also be together with many people like you,” he said. “One-person households are not evenly distributed throughout the city. Certain neighbourhoods where 60, 70 per cent of households have just one person tend to be booming public areas with good restaurants and bars and cafes and bookshops. People can come together in public and live alone and be very social.”

And according to Klinenberg, solo living tends to come and go.

“Few people are living alone forever,” he said. “Most people do it in different stages of their lives.”

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