Generation Lonely

More divorces lead to 50 per cent rise in baby boomers living by themselves

A RISING divorce rate is creating a generation of lonely middle-aged men and women, a report revealed yesterday.

Nearly a third of those aged between 45 and 64 now live on their own, official figures show.

One reason for this is an increase in the number of people in this age group who are either divorced or never got married, according to the figures from the Office for National Statistics.

Some 2.43million of those aged 45 to 64 from the baby boomer generation now live alone. This is up more than 50 per cent from 1.59million in 1996.

Part of this rise is simply down to higher numbers of the population reaching this age group. But separate ONS figures have revealed a growing numbers of break-ups among the over-50s.

It recorded nearly 107,000 divorces in England and Wales last year – 6 per cent more than in 2015. Almost a quarter of divorces involved women over 50 – so-called ‘silver splitters’.

Harry Benson, research director of the Marriage Foundation thinktank, said: ‘The rise in middleaged people living alone is partly because fewer people are marrying and partly because family breakdown is steadily increasing.

‘The proportion of women projected to marry is also falling, so it suggests that this is an issue that is going to become more pronounced.’

The ONS also pointed out the population aged 45 to 64 has risen ‘as the 1960s baby-boom generation has been reaching this age group, particularly in the past decade’.

Analysis by experts two years ago found that the squeezed middle-aged were the loneliest people in the country, driven to antide- pressants by the pressures of work, money and family.

Meanwhile, the latest report showed the number of those aged 75 and over who live alone has risen from 1.78million to 2.21million in the two decades to 2017.

This is partly due to improvements in life expectancy and health, meaning more pensioners are able to live independently.

Caroline Abrahams, director of charity at Age UK, said: ‘The fact that there are significantly greater numbers of older people living alone and the suggestion that this trend is expected to intensify in the years to come has really big implications for policy and practice. In particular, it means there is an increased likelihood of loneliness among the older population and that the demands on public services, especially health and care, are set to rise to a greater degree than may yet have been recognised.’

The ONS figures also raised concerns over Britain’s housing crisis as it was revealed that a third of men aged 20 to 34 still live at home with their parents.

Women are more likely to move out, but a fifth of females in that age group are still living in their childhood home.

As house prices have soared over the past 20 years, the number of young adults living at home have also risen dramatically.

The number of 20 to 34-year-olds living at home has risen from 2.7million in 1996 to 3.4million this year. The ONS said: ‘ Larger numbers of young adults tending to stay at home for longer may be explained by staying in education and training for longer, formalising relationships and having children at older ages, and increased costs in renting or buying a home.’

The figures will pile further pressure on Philip Hammond to find extra cash to try to ease the housing crisis in the Budget in a fortnight’s time.

Theresa May is said to have agreed with her Chancellor to put house building at the heart of his economic plan.

Many young people have given up on owning their own home and the Prime Minister thinks getting them back on the housing ladder is crucial if she is to stand a chance of wooing young voters away from Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour.

In her speech to the Conservative conference last month, she announced an extra £ 2billion for affordable housing, including the building of an extra 12,500 homes for social rent each year in 2020 and 2021.

‘Family breakdown is increasing’