Percentage of one-person households, 1960 to 2018 | Hacker News Reader

Percentage of one-person households, 1960 to 2018

ourworldindata.org

24 pointsE-Reverance8 comments

I wonder if you could lay similar data regarding mental health issues over this and find similar trends.

Being isolated and lonely does seem to lead to many mental health issues in many people.

A lot will depend on home costs. If they are high then single people will end up sharing with others when they'd prefer to have their own place.

Fyi, if you select more countries, Norway is the highest, not Germany

Widowers? Somewhat inevitable as boomers age and die.

Would be helpful to see a split between widowers and young adults.

Doesn't explicitly say widowers but still relevant:

"Older people are most likely to live alone: 34% of those over 65 do so, and among those aged 85 and older, the share jumps to 56%. But young adults between 25 and 34 also stand out, with 28% living alone — well above average. Women live alone slightly more often than men (21.2% versus 20%)."

https://www.dw.com/en/germany-sees-uptick-in-people-living-a...

That explains change over time, but for me the strangest part is the discrepancy between countries. I would've expected the US to be the highest

I was very curious about what was up with the insane rise in Bulgaria.

I’m not sure if we collectively reject copy-paste from GPTs yet, but I thought this was worth sharing and it even got the references correct (wasn’t always true)

https://chatgpt.com/share/6886de11-f21c-800c-82b3-b62afc4f03...

TLDR: Bulgaria’s sharp rise in one-person households is driven primarily by rapid population aging, with many elderly (especially widowed women) living alone. Massive emigration of young people since the 1990s has fragmented families, leaving older generations behind in rural homes. High home ownership rates and urban migration have enabled more people—young and old—to live independently. These trends reflect broader shifts toward individualism, delayed marriage, and declining birth rates, especially in urban areas.

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