Living alone in Australia: trends in sole living and characteristics of those who live alone

• David de Vaus, Sue Richardson
• Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia

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18 November 2009Since the 1960s we have experienced major changes in the way people live and the way in which they build their families and households. This paper looks at the characteristics of people who live alone.

Adults are marrying and having children later than in the past, if they do these things at all; families have become less stable, smaller and more diverse. A great deal is now known about these changes but a parallel change, the steady rise in one person households, is barely understood.

In 2006 almost two million adults were living alone in Australia. This number, which represents 13 per cent of individuals aged 20 and older, is steadily rising; since 1971 lone person households have almost doubled from 14 per cent of all Australian households in 1971 to 27 per cent in 2006. By any measure, those who live alone represent a significant proportion of the population and the growth in this form of living invites us to ask what kinds of people are living alone and whether the increase in living alone is more marked among some sectors of the population than others. By examining the types of people who live alone, what are we able to conclude about this rise in living alone?

To begin to make sense of the accelarating phenomenon of living alone we must first develop a picture of the types of people who live alone. It is only by understanding who lives alone and the groups among whom living alone is growing that we can begin to understand what might lie behind this trend – a trend that is seen in all developed countries.

This paper focuses on a limited set of factors. First, it explores the age, gender and marital status profile of those who live alone. A traditional image of solo living is that of the elderly widow. But is this accurate? Are those that live alone mainly elderly? Is the growth in living alone due to the ageing of the population or is it driven by an increase in the number of young people living alone, by delaying marriage and childbearing? Second, it explores aspects of social advantage and disadvantage – whether living alone is more common among those who are relatively socially advantaged or among those who are more marginalised.