Rising population of people living alone

There are about 33 million Americans living alone today.

The majority of them are 35 to 64 years old, according to Eric Klinenberg, the author of Going Solo, who gave a presentation recently at the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency Commonwealth Housing Forum.

“Most people assume it’s older people living alone,” he said. “But while older people are not the majority, they are still a large percentage,” he added, noting that one-third of the 33 million are over 65. Klinenberg also said that more women than men live alone today. In 1950, fewer than 9 percent of people lived alone, and only 22 percent were unmarried. Today, the number of single Americans is higher than the number of married Americans for the first time in history.

However, “living alone is an expensive thing to do, for the most part. The pre-conditions are having enough personal security and resources to have a place of your own,” he said.

Why do the more privileged people on earth use their resources to separate from one another and get places of their own? he asked. The top reasons are freedom, personal control, self-realization, solitude and connection.

“Many people said living alone is the best thing they could do. They valued their freedom, ability to control their time and space, while younger and newly single people want to find a way to figure out who they are by living alone, and it helps you reconnect with other people because you have time to decide what you really want,” he said.

“For the first time in history, women are in the paid labor force in very large numbers, they are in control of their lives more than ever before. Once they had the capability to do things outside of the domestic sphere, the average age of getting married went up and the number of divorces went up,” he added.

Additionally, with the advances in communication, is anyone really alone? Radio, television, smart phones and tablets provide people with constant communication.

“The phone hasn’t destroyed social life. The communications revolution is changing what its like to live alone,” he said.