In March 2026 the Centre for Population, Family and Health at the University of Antwerp presented new statistics regarding single people. Only 1 in 8 singles aged 23–39 (12%) are actively looking for a long-term partner, even though many remain open to one, the study find. While I haven’t found the paper behind these numbers, I have found other, interesting source material.
More than one fifth of the European Union’s adult population live alone or as single parents, with the proportion increasing with age. In 2024, just over one tenth of adults aged 18–24 lived alone, compared with almost one third of those aged 65 or older. The Eurostat map shows that in Belgium, 20.3 of households consist of one person.
Across all age groups, the share of men and women living alone, with or without children, was higher in 2024 than in 2015. The number of single adults aged 18–64 rose by 12.7% over the period, while among those aged over 64 the increase reached 19.8%.
The rise was particularly strong among men. In 2024, the number of adult men living alone grew faster than that of women, especially among those aged 65 or over, where the number of single men increased by 35.0% compared with 14.4% for women.
Large gender differences remain in the composition of the single adult population, particularly among people aged 25–54. Women in this age group are far more likely than men to live alone with children. In 2024, 5.4% of women aged 25–54 were single parents with children, compared with just 1.0% of men.
By contrast, men in this age bracket are more likely to live alone without children. The share of single men aged 25–54 without children rose faster than for women between 2015 and 2024. In 2024, 19.9% of men in this age group were single without children, compared with 12.0% of women, up from 16.5% and 10.4% respectively in 2015.
Most EU households do not include children
Household data show that the presence of children varies widely between countries. Across the EU, 23.6% of households included children in 2024, while 76.4% did not.
The highest shares of households with children were recorded in Slovakia (35.6%) and Ireland (31.0%), while Finland (18.0%) and Lithuania (19.6%) had the lowest proportions.
Couples accounted for 63.5% of households with children, making them the most common family type. Sweden, Greece, Finland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg had the highest shares of couples among households with children, all above 70%. Denmark and Latvia recorded the lowest shares, at 45.9% and 46.4% respectively.
Single-parent families represented 12.7% of households with children across the EU. Estonia had the highest share of such households at 36.7%, followed by Lithuania (29.5%), Latvia (24.9%) and Denmark (23.2%). Slovakia, Greece and Slovenia recorded the lowest shares, all below 5%.
Among households with children, those with one child were the most common. In 2024, 49.8% had one child, while 37.6% had two children and 12.6% had three or more.
The Netherlands was the only country where households with two children were more common than those with one. Larger families were relatively rare, although they accounted for 20.6% of households with children in Ireland, 18.1% in Sweden and 17.4% in Finland.
Majority of households have all adults working
In 2024, 57.8% of EU households had all adults in employment, either full-time or part-time. Within this group, 41.4% had all adults working full-time, while 16.4% included at least one part-time worker alongside full-time workers. By contrast, in 28.4% of households at least one adult was employed and another was not working, and in 13.8% no adults were employed.
The picture differs depending on whether children are present. Among households with economically dependent children, 61.3% had all adults in employment, compared with 56.2% of households without children.
Households with children were also more likely to include part-time work. In 22.4% of such households, at least one adult worked part-time while the others worked full-time, compared with 13.7% of households without children. However, households with children were less likely to have no employed adults at all (7.1%) than households without children (16.9%).
Across the EU, the Netherlands, Estonia, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Lithuania recorded the highest shares of households where all adults were employed, each exceeding two thirds.
Lithuania also had the highest proportion of households where all adults worked full-time (62.2%), followed by Estonia (57.4%) and Hungary (53.5%).
Belgium (19.2%), Finland (17.9%) and Romania (17.3%) recorded the highest shares of households where no adults were working.
Jobless households declining since 2015
In 2024, 8.0% of children aged 0–17 in the EU lived in jobless households, the same share as among people aged 18–59. Both figures have declined since 2015, when the shares were 10.1% and 10.8% respectively.
The proportions fell steadily until 2019, before rising slightly in 2020, likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2021, the shares have stabilised or declined marginally.
In 2024, the highest shares of children living in jobless households were recorded in Romania (15.3%), Belgium (11.7%) and France (10.3%). The lowest were in Slovenia (1.6%), Sweden (3.3%) and Croatia (3.8%).
For adults aged 18–59, more than 10% lived in jobless households in Finland (11.9%), Belgium (11.0%), Denmark (10.3%), Italy (10.3%) and Lithuania (10.0%). The lowest shares were recorded in Malta (3.1%), Czechia (3.3%), Slovenia (4.6%), Hungary (4.7%) and Slovakia (4.8%).
Since 2015, the share of adults living in jobless households has decreased in most EU countries, with the largest declines recorded in Greece (-11.0 percentage points), Spain (-5.6 pp) and Croatia (-5.4 pp).
Single & Solo
- STUDY | Singlehood in Belgium shaped by gender and migration background.
- STUDY | Singlehood is far more complex than ‘by choice’ or ‘not by choice’.
- BOOK REVIEW | ‘Vanilla’ by Ype Driessen, daring to question the societal precedence of the romantic relationship.
- Single-positive novel ‘Tijd om te bloeien’ out now.
- HOW TO | Solo in Tokyo, Japan.
- Nikita (25) from Halle publishes feminist and single-positive feelgood novel ‘Tijd om te bloeien’: “The story I wanted to read myself”.
- STUDY | Single life no longer a transitional phase: only one in eight actively seeking a partner.
- The best cities to visit as a gay solo traveller.
- The best cities for gay cruising? London, Berlin, Paris, Madrid and Barcelona.
- Tourism Flanders tightens Airbnb rules to protect housing for singles.
- How Belgium has changed in the last 25 years.
- Belgians book Asia, vintage travel and boutique hotels for spring and summer 2025.
- SOLO TRAVEL | More expensive, but also some advantages.
- MONTREAL | Dining solo at Monarque felt like being part of a tv show.
- Antwerp Pride 2022 made big impact with Queertopia, monkeypox highjacked the festivities.
- Hotel room for one.
- SINGLES DAY | Why everyone should travel alone sometimes.
