Middle aged bachelors fueling "significant" rise in the number of people living alone, ONS figures show

Middle-aged bachelors are fuelling the rise in the number of people living alone, new government data shows.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) published data on families and households in the UK for 2019.

According to the latest data, the number of households in the UK grew by almost a quarter-of-a-million in 2019, marking a 0.9% rise from the previous year. It went up by 249,000 to 27.8 million.

Meanwhile the number of people living alone has risen by a fifth over the last 20 years in what researchers deemed a “statistically significant increase”.

It rose from 6.8million in 1999 to 8.2million in 2019, with the majority of this increase driven by the growth in the numbers of men - predominantly aged between 45 and 64 - living alone (72.1%).

The ONS said that the number middle-aged men living alone was rising for a number of reasons including: that higher proportions of men than women never marry, that men tend to marry at older ages than women and marry women younger than themselves and partnership dissolution - leading to men living alone while women may live with any children from previous relationships.

The data showed that in 2018, there were 1,375,000 men aged between 45 and 64 living alone. By 2019 that figure rose to 1,413,000.

Responding to the figures, Deborah Jeff, Partner and Head of Family at Seddons law firm, said: “The number of middle aged bachelors living alone could be caused by a number of factors.

“Although the family courts are catching up with how we live our lives and that the best interests of the children can often be met by them living between both parents‘ homes post-separation, the arrangement where children live with one parent and spend time with the other remains the most common.

“Where there is insufficient money to house both parents post-separation in a home large enough to accommodate the children, it can often be the case that the children therefore live with one parent (traditionally their mother) and see the other at times agreed or as ordered by the court.

“The figures in the statistics could therefore capture the fathers of children in those circumstances where the economics after divorce or relationship breakdown make it impossible for them to live with their children.

“It could also be a lifestyle choice for both sexes; more men may choose to remain single after a relationship break up, and women no longer need to rely on men financially so can end their marriages when historically they may have been financially dependent on their husbands.

“The age group in the statistics capture perhaps those generations where divorce was previously not contemplated but is now socially acceptable.”