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 increases the probability of people living alone. But in countries like
Saudi Arabia where women do not have
autonomy, few people on their own.
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. Some may choose to remain single after a divorce or breakup.
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. In 2025,
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. The share of singletons is correlated with how wealthy the country is. 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. In wealthy countries, people are more likely to choose the
privacy,
individualism, independence, and sometimes the
isolation of living alone. However, surveys suggest that only a minority of single individuals actually prefer living that way. 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, Concern over divorce is another reason many choose to remain single. In the Scandinavian countries, single-person households have become commonplace. In Canada, the share of single-person household has doubled between 1981 and 2021, when it was 4.4 million people, or 15 percent of people aged 15 and over, a record. How common singletons are also depends on how much people value their individual autonomy. 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. Growing amounts of time spent on electronic devices—in particular, to play
video games, to
stream music and videos, and to interact with
artificially intelligent companions—is behind the rising number of single individuals. 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. == Risks and challenges ==