Demonstrated in the provided bar chart is how the percentage of British people living by themselves are compared by age and gender in 2004 and 2005. Overall, it can be apparently seen that the percentage of people who lived on their own is the highest among those 75 and over.
Looking at the details, in the younger age groups (16-24, 25-44, and 45-64) the number of reported males was consistently higher than the counterparts. For example, in the 16-24 age group, the percentage of females living independently stands at approximately 3% while that of male is slightly higher, at about 5%. This trend continues in the 25-44 group, where 15% of men and 8% of women lived alone. The figures for the 45-64 age group shows a closer gap between genders, with 17% and 16% of male and female, respectively.
In contrast, starting from the age 65, more women lived alone than men. In the 65-74 age group and 75 and over, the proportion of females living alone are almost doubled that of males (with 32% compared to 17% and nearly 60% compared to around 30%, respectively).
To sum up, while more men lived alone at younger ages, the opposite was true in older age groups, where more women lived alone than men.