Middle-aged poor men ‘more likely to be single’

Men from poor backgrounds are around twice as likely to be single than those from rich families by the time they reach early middle age, analysis has found.

As well as being more likely to be in highly-paid jobs or even working at all, richer men in their early 40s in Britain are also more likely to be living with a partner, according to the findings from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).

It found the likelihood of being in a relationship, and a partner’s level of earnings, are increasingly related to family background.

In 2012, around one in three (33 per cent) men aged 42 from the poorest fifth of households lived alone, the research found. This compared with one in seven (15 per cent) of their counterparts from rich backgrounds living without a partner.

Men from low income households were more than twice as likely to be divorced as those from high-income backgrounds, at 11 per cent versus 5 per cent and nearly twice as likely never to have been married, at 36 per cent versus 20 per cent.

Richer men were also more likely to have higher-earning partners. The partners of men from richer backgrounds tended to earn around 73 per cent more than the partners of men from poorer families, the research found.