Rise of Solo Living in China: 58 Million One-Person Households
11/26/2015
Image: Baidu
A report by China National Radio has focused on the country's skyrocketing number of people living alone, highlighting more than 58 million one-person households.
According to census results, one-person households accounted for more than 14 percent of all households in 2013. One out of four households in Shanghai and one out of five in Beijing had a single dweller.
Factors like population migration, across-city employment, a decrease of multi-generational families, and urbanization have led to the spike.
More than half of seniors live alone or live only with their spouses, a much higher portion than 20 years ago, the report said, adding that Liao, Shandong, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Shanghai and Zhejiang had the highest populations of solo-dwellers aged over 75.
Wu Jun, aged 86, who lives in Qinhuangdao city of Hebei province, said he insisted on living alone, as he was not accustomed to living with his sons abroad.
Meanwhile, people are marrying later and the divorce rate is increasing, so a large number of young people have begun settling down as singletons, clustering together in metropolitan areas. Data show that the number of one-person households of young adults aged between 20 and 39 has reached nearly 20 million. Among solo-dwellers aged 20 to 54, men outnumber women.
