Britons are going solo

Record 8m live alone as ‘silver splitter’ divorces help lift total by 290,000 in a year

IT’S a fast-growing trend in modern Britain as ‘silver splitter’ divorces soar and marriage rates remain at a historic low.

The number of Britons living alone rocketed by 292,000 last year to a record eight million – nearly a third of all households.

Opposite- sex marriages are around half the rate of 1940 and more and more middle-aged people find themselves alone after a break-up, hence the ‘silver splitters’ tag.

The new figures from the Office for National Statistics showed there were 8,007,000 homes with just one person in 2018. For the first time, they outnumber couples who live together without children – 7.9million households.

The development of ‘solo Britain’ has been pushed by the growing likelihood that women will live by themselves in their late 40s, 50s and early 60s, and a similar jump in the number of men alone between the ages of 65 and 74.

It has come alongside a leap over the past decade in the number of cohabiting couples – whose relationships are more likely to end in a break-up. The figures show there were 19.1million families, including couples without children, in the UK last year – 8 per cent more than the 17.7million in 2008.

Families headed by married couples continue to be most common, but their proportion has shrunk from 69.1 per cent of all homes to 67.1 per cent since 2008.

Sophie Sanders of the ONS said: ‘ The number of families and households has continued to rise in line with the growth of the population over the past decade.

‘however, the ways that people live have been changing. While married couple families remain the most common, cohabiting couples are the fastest-growing family type as people increasingly choose to live together before, or without, getting married. There are also more people living alone than ever before, an increasing number of same-sex couple famitions lies and more young adults living with their parents.’

The ONS said the increase in singletons was being driven by the growing numbers of middle-aged people and a ‘rise in the proporwho are divorced or single and never married’.

Most people living alone – 4.1million – were under the traditional retirement age of 65. Commentators linked the increasing likelihood that middle-aged people will live alone with the rise of cohabitation and the impact of divorce.

There were just over 100,000 divorces in england and Wales in 2017. Around a quarter involved women over the age of 50. Divorce at older ages has become more common as women have achieved greater financial independence.

however ‘silver splitter’ breakups also include the end of a high proportion of cohabiting relationships, which have no legal status, and which can end instantly when one partner walks out.

There were 243,000 marriages in england and Wales in 2016, compared with 471,000 in 1940 when the UK population was 46million – much lower than today’s 66million.

employees over the age of 50 shouldered the burden of pulling the UK out of recession by working harder, ONS figures showed yesterday. They carried out 30 per cent of all working hours last year compared to a quarter in 2008 – when the global financial crisis pushed Britain into a long-term slump.

‘Singletons form a third of households’