Do we really want to be alone . . ?

Rachel Crofts asks if we are becoming a nation of singletons.

FORGET keeping up with Joneses -- we'll soon be keeping up with the Bridget Joneses -- in a future where singletons could replace families as the norm in the UK, according to the latest research.

Almost one in three British houses now has just one occupant, a figure which has almost doubled from 17 per cent in 1971 to 31 per cent in 2001, and the Government estimates that it will reach 40 per cent by 2010.

The number of single women has also doubled in the past 23 years, according to research by the Office for National Statistics for its Living in Britain -- 2001 General Household Survey.

Celebrities such as George Clooney, Geri Halliwell and Russell Crowe have expounded the benefits of the single life -- yet many singletons still feel there is a stigma attached to being unattached.

And it isn't just attitudes which can be harsh. Singletons are penalised by travel companies that extract single occupancy supplements and supermarkets which charge a premium for meals-for-one, while some find themselves unable to get on the soaring property ladder because they do not have a double-income borrowing power.

But is living alone becoming an active choice rather than a passive fact of life? Are we really developing into a nation of singletons shunning our traditional lifestyle of marriage and kids, or are simple factors such as outliving spouses and divorce rates at work in this demographic shift? And what, if any, are the consequences of these changes?

On a very basic level, the rise in single households is raising demand for housing. Around 1.1 million new houses will be needed in the South-east of England alone by 2016. With marriages happening later in life, and divorces on the increase, there are simply more single people on the property market, says Halifax economist Mark Ellis.

The bank found 40 per cent of homebuyers were single in 2001, compared with one quarter in 1983, and the proportion of single women buying their own home has also risen from eight per cent to 15 per cent in the past two decades.

"It is imperative that planners and builders take account of this when deciding what types of properties to build and where to build them," says Ellis. "It's no use building three or four bedroom houses when the demand is for one or two bedroom houses and flats."

Tour operators, hotel and guest house owners too, may have to rethink their allocation for single customers, while advertisers and marketing strategists are already targeting their campaigns at single consumers.

But analysts at the Future Foundation, a think tank that advises companies on better ways to understand their customer base, and its subsidiary nVision, do question whether this rise in single households is the result of dramatically changing attitudes or simply a shift in circumstances.

Some analysts believe a large factor in the rise in singles is down to people living longer, choosing to marry later in life and outliving spouses, rather than a conscious choice to go through life as singletons.

Michael Willmott, Co-Founder of the Future Foundation, says: "Single adults aged 30 plus have now become a recognised modern social phenomena, stereotypically and vividly portrayed in the fictional character of Bridget Jones.

"Along with declining rates of marriage, increasing divorce rates and the rise of serial cohabitation, this has led some commentators to talk of the emergence of 'singleton' lifestyles of choice, structured by individual hedonism rather than life courses structured by a long-term commitment to a partner or family."

But data from the British Household Panel Study (BHPS) shows that by the age 30 around 45 per cent of people are married, with about another 30 per cent cohabiting with a partner. Almost 70 per cent of 36-to-40-year-olds are married, with a further 15 per cent cohabiting, giving a total of more than 80 per cent who are living with a spouse or partner.

This combined figure of 80 per cent remains relatively stable through to the late 50s, although the proportion of people who are married gradually increases whilst unmarried cohabitation slowly declines. Unlike other surveys, the BHPS also asked whether non-married or cohabiting respondents had a "steady relationship" with someone that they didn't live with.

In the 21-25 age group around 25 per cent said they had such a relationship, with this declining by age as respondents get married or start to live together. Even among the 30-55 age group, however, around six per cent to seven per cent of respondents were in what they described as a long term relationship, but not living with that person.

Significantly these "LATs" (Living Apart -- Together) accounted for around a third of all nominally "single" people in that age range, and when they were included in the married, cohabiting group, the proportion of people who were currently "100 per cent single" dropped considerably.

Willmott explains: "These findings suggest that among the 30 plus age group at least, the notion of 'singleness' is very much that of a temporary state in between long term relationships -- married or otherwise."

Analysis also reveals that single people in LAT relationships live very differently to those who are completely single. The aspirations, spending patterns and characteristics of those who have found a long term partner -- even if they are not living with them -- were markedly different from those completely single.

Indeed research by nVision did find that family units, though diminishing in the traditional sense, remained strong, with modern families spending more time together than past generations. We may be keeping up with the Joneses en-famille for a few years yet, it seems.