The bar graph compares the proportion of people living in solitude across five different age cohorts in the USA between 1850 and 2000.
Overall, throughout the 150-year period, not only did the figures for all age categories witnessed an upward trend, but they also experienced far more substantial growth towards the end of the timeframe with the 55-64 group remaining the highest. In addition, only the 27-36 and 17-26 age groups began living alone in 1900 and 1950, respectively.
Older groups were the pioneers of a solitary lifestyle. In 1850, while the 37-46 and 47-54 groups displayed an equilibirium at just over 2%, the figure for the oldest bracket (55-64) was relatively higher at around 3%. The proportion of individuals living alone who aged 55-64 subsequently witnessed the most significant rise to roughly 17% by the end of the period, dominating over the remaining age categories. Meanwhile, the 47-54 age cohort increased modestly to approximately 3.5% in 1950, marginally surpassing the 37-46 bracket, before noticeably surging to about 13% after half a century. Showing a more minimal increase, the figure for those living alone at the age of 37-46 ended the surveyed timeframe at around 7%.
Younger adults followed the tendency of leading a lonely lifestyle later on. In the year 1900, the 27-36 age bracket witnessed just more than 2% of individuals living alone, whereas there was a mere 1.9% of people aged 17-26 adhering to the same lifestyle in 1950. At the end of the period, the figures for the 27-36 and 17-26 demographics rose dramatically to approximately 5% and 8%, correspondingly, with the former overtaking the data for the 37-46 age category.