More Scots choosing to live on their own

The increase in numbers of Scots who find themselves living on their own shows no sign of slowing, with more than a third of households north of the Border now occupied by just one person.

Figures published yesterday by the National Records of Scotland (NRS) revealed there were more than 900,000 people living alone, up from 722,000 in 2001. The number of households containing three or more people has declined from 747,000 to 695,000 in the same period.

Households consisting of only one person have been the most common type in Scotland since 2010.

The rise in solo living, coupled with the country’s gradually rising population, meant there was an estimated 2.46 million households north of the Border last year – a record high.

That figure represented an increase of 6 per cent over the past ten years, with the number growing in each council area.

The Scottish Government said it was up to councils to make sure their individual housing needs met the demands of local residents.

Of the 2.6 million dwellings north of the Border, 3 per cent (79,200) were empty. A further 1 per cent (25,700) were second homes.

Remote rural areas have a higher percentage of empty and second homes than urban areas.

Housing minister Kevin Stewart said: “As the statutory housing and planning authority for their area, local authorities are responsible for assessing housing need and demand and setting out how the requirement for housing will be met, through their local housing strategy and local development plan, including the scale and location of housing land and the size and type of housing required.

“The Scottish Government is investing more than £3 billion to deliver at least 50,000 affordable homes over the lifetime of this Parliament – a 76 per cent increase on our previous five-year investment. In coming years, funding allocated to councils for affordable housing will continue to rise, bringing the overall funding to £1.79bn over the three years to end March 2021.”