We have become a solitary race. Almost a third of UK households comprise of just one person. Back in 1971, the number was only 18 percent.There are plenty of explanations; higher divorce rate, lower marriage rate, higher female incomes, and the generalised breakdown of the nuclear family. However, I can't help feeling that it is a bad thing. People need other people.
11 comments:
A study into the proportion of bloggers who live alone might be useful.
You have to split it up into age groups, I'd guess the largest part is widows/widowers.
There is the benefit from officially living alone to be considered.
I think you will find that as long as their is a benefit to being a "single parent", you will find people only declaring one person living at an addres.
single parent benefit
housing benefit
council tax paid/reduced
school meals/uniform free
It's often the case that married people are the loneliest. Either that or they are spending much of their time with people they'd rather not - such as in-laws.
Don't assume that singles aren't having a whale of a time just because they live alone - it's often quite the reverse.
Alice, interesting chart.
what's the source of the data?
The definitions are unlikely to have been unchanged.
As the proportion has barely changed since 1991, I'm not sure this is news. Not saying it's a good thing but it's hardly a trend.
In a fractured, heterogenous society like modern Britain (rife with illegal immigrants, people of every race, ethnicity, faith on the planet), the best survival strategy is to cut loose from as much baggage as possible. When the state is forking over huge subsidies to ethnic minority families, you can't compete unless you go lean and mean. That's reality.
data source: Social Trends 39 from the ONS.
www.ons.gov.uk
Tut tut Alice. Composed of or comprises but never comprised of. But yes bad and sad.
Post a Comment