Nearly 26 million Americans 50 or older live alone, up from 15 million in 2000, and the number is now approaching 30% of the U.S. population.
Jay Miles has lived his 52 years without marriage or children, which has suited his creative ambitions as a videographer and, he said, his mix of “independence and stubbornness.” But he worries about who will take care of him as he gets older.
Nearly 26 million Americans 50 or older now live alone, up from 15 million in 2000. Older people have always been more likely than others to live by themselves, and now that age group — baby boomers and Gen Xers — makes up a bigger share of the population than at any time in the nation’s history. And even with an active social and family life, people in this group are generally more lonely than those who live with others, according to Schafer’s research.
Watching their own parents age seems to have had a profound effect on many members of Gen X, born between 1965 and 1980, who say they doubt that they can lean on the same supports that their parents did: long marriages, pensions, homes that sometimes skyrocketed in value. Forty years ago, units of less than 1,400 square feet made up about 40% of all new home construction; today, just 7% of new builds are smaller homes, despite the fact that the number of single-person households has surged.
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