Number of Canadian single-person households skyrocketing

A new report from Statistics Canada finds more Canadians than ever before are living alone and that the number of single-person households has doubled over the past 35 years.

There are now more single-person households than households of any other kind.

StatsCan found the fastest growing age group for living alone is middle adulthood, people aged 35-to-64.

Nora Galbraith, a senior analyst at Statistics Canada’s demography division and a co-author of the report, which is based on 2016 Census data and the 2017 General Social Survey on Family, cites a number of reasons for the increase.

These include increased life expectancies for men and the advent of no-fault divorce which she says has contributed the more even gender distribution of single-person households.

Changes in social norms and what is “acceptable” have also contributed.

“We no longer, as a society, define adulthood as equating with being married, especially as more young people are pursuing higher education.” Galbraith told CBC News.

The report found that not everyone who lives alone is unattached romantically–about a third of people between 20 and 34 are in what are called LAT relationships (living apart together).

About 20 per cent of people aged 35 to 64 are in a LAT relationship.

The report found that not everyone who lives alone plans to stay that way long-term

“A large majority did intend to form a union in the future, so that suggests that living alone is a stepping stone for them,” Galbraith says.

The study found a 10 per cent difference in the degree of happiness between people living alone and people living with others.

Among adults aged 20 or older living alone, 61 per cent reported they were were satisfied with their situation.

Among those living with others, 71 per cent said they were satisfied.

With files, from CBC, CP, Toronto Star, Yahoo Finance