Number of men living alone on rise

There were 1.1 million people living alone in the country at the end of 2016 of whom 46 per cent were men.

The number of men living alone has doubled in the past 20 years, according to Statistics Finland.

In 2016, men were a majority among persons living alone in the 25 to 54 age group. A majority of the men in this age group are unmarried.

Seventeen per cent of them are divorced. According to Statistics Finland, there were 256,000 men aged 25 to 54 living alone at the end of 2016 and the corresponding number of women was 158,000.

In rural and semi-urban municipalities, nearly 70 per cent of men aged 25 to 54 were living alone. In urban municipalities, the corresponding share was 60 per cent. In the capital city Helsinki slightly over one-half of the men aged 25 to 54 were living alone.

In the other big towns like Espoo, Vantaa, Jyväskylä, and Oulu the percentage was over 60.

Of persons aged under 25, there were nearly as many men living alone as women of the same age.

Women become the majority of persons living alone after the age of 55.