Census shows loner lifestyle gaining traction

Lonely hearts club? Look in the mirror. The London area, and other parts of Southwestern Ontario, are on the leading edge of a growing trend reshaping the face of Canada — the surging ranks of people living alone.

For the first time in the country’s history, the loner lifestyle is the most common living arrangement, Statistic Canada reported this week in the 2016 census.

Empty nesters and adult kids living in their parents’ basements also loom large in the latest snapshot from the census, which zeroed in on households, marital status and language.

Childless couples, it turns out, have almost eclipsed those living with kids, and those “kids” are more likely to be “twenty-somethings.”

It throws down a gauntlet for cities to adapt to changing lifestyles, especially when it comes to young singles, one London observer said.

“This is a group that has not been the norm for London but will be an economic driver for the future and they should be respected and nurtured,” said Titus Ferguson, of UnLondon, a non-profit group supporting digital and creative enterprises.

In the Greater London area, which includes St. Thomas and portions of Elgin and Middlesex counties, almost one-third of households — 30.1 per cent — are

made up of singles.

That’s higher than the national average which, at 28.2 per cent, has supplanted couples with children as the dominant household setup.

Most counties in Southwestern Ontario are running close to the national average in the ratio of single-family households, but there are exceptions — notably Elgin and Oxford counties, and HaldimandNorfolk, which are bucking the trend.

Nationally, the largest number of people living alone are older, especially older women.

There’s a global trend for older women to live on their own — because they can, a London sociologist said.

More women are taking part in the workforce, and government programs and pensions have made them financially independent, said Rachel Margolis of Western University.

They’re also living longer, and usually outlive their partners.

One factor that may be driving the higher singles population in London are the young millennials, who walk or cycle to their tech and creative jobs in the downtown core.

Statistics Canada chalks up the growth in single households to factors including an aging population with more empty nesters and widows, and higher separation rates.

Economics is playing a role in another spike, the number of young adults living with their parents.

The numbers show that one in three people aged 20 to 34 lived with at least one parent in 2016, an increase of almost five percentage points between 2001 and 2016.

Over that same period, the percentage of young people living with families of their own fell to 41.9 per cent from 49.1 per cent.