More Americans Live Alone Than Ever Before

[liveonearth]

Twenty eight percent (28%) of US households are now just one person living alone. This is the most ever. These singles are the biggest spenders, contributing 1.9 trillion to "the economy" each year. (According to The Week 2/10/12 which is in turn quoting Fortune magazine)

And another factoid from the same source: the number of US prisoners age 65 and over has increased 63% between 2007 and 2010. I guess we're keeping them put away so long that now they need more medical care, and it's becoming an issue. The total number of prisoners has been flat for that same period.

Comments

[rick-day.livejournal.com]

If you think about it, that is a tremendous waste of resources and energy.

[liveonearth.livejournal.com]

Agreed. These wealthy singles probably pay someone to do their laundry, clean their bathroom, be their friend and a whole lot of other "services" that we naturally do for each other when we live together...

[rick-day.livejournal.com]

I am thinking more about living alone, the space, the utilities the one owner cars.....

[liveonearth.livejournal.com]

Yes, ALL that. Just like free-standing homes are less efficient than shared-wall construction.

[b-vainamoinen.livejournal.com]

I found that interesting because I have NEVER lived alone. I've always lived with family/housemates/significantothers.

Right now I live in a duplex and the other apartment is occupied by family members. We have our own space. We have great boundaries. We share one furnace. One lawnmower. One snowthrower. One wireless Internet router.

It's a LOT cheaper than running two separate households.