According to a new demographic trends paper recently released by the Australian Institute of Family Studies a quarter of all Australian households are now lone person households. AIFS’ Senior Research Fellow, Professor David de Vaus said that the percentage of one-person households had increased in Australia from 8 per cent in 1946 to 24 per cent in 2011.
“The Australian rate of lone households is similar to that of other English-speaking countries like New Zealand (22 per cent) and the United Kingdom (29 per cent) and falls between the high level found in Sweden and Denmark and the lower rates in parts of Asia, Central and South America,” Professor de Vaus said.
Professor de Vaus explained that in some quarters, this trend has been linked to a decline in commitment to family living, increased social fragmentation and a rise in loneliness. For others, living alone has been celebrated as reflecting greater choice. Professor de Vaus added that living alone is a little more common among women, than among men, and women who live alone are, on average, substantially older than men who live alone.
“There’s also been a sharp increase in the proportion of those living alone who are aged over 80, up from 9 per cent in 1986 to 15 per cent of those who live alone, a 62 per cent increase.” Professor de Vaus explained “This has coincided with an increase in people living alone in their middle years. Now a third of all those on their own are aged between 40-59 years of age. “In this middle aged group living alone often results from separation and divorce; among younger age groups it is linked with delays in marriage; while among older people, it is more often than not the result of the death of a partner.” Professor De Vaus added.
Co-author of the paper, AIFS Senior Research Fellow, Dr Lixia Qu said levels of social advantage and disadvantage were other factors affecting whether people lived alone or with others.
“A consistent picture emerges that shows that younger women who live alone are a socially advantaged group in terms of their education, occupation and incomes,” Dr Qu said. “They stand out from women who do not live alone and from men in general in the same age groups. In many respects these young women who live alone are well to-do and have choices. “They may live alone because their success provides them with more options which means they do not need to partner or their work and career provide more attractions than partnering and having a family.” Dr Qu added.