Band 6+: In some countries, many more people are choosing to live alone nowadays than in the past. Do you think this is a positive or negative development? Include reasons and examples from your own knowledge and experience. Write at least 250 words.

In some Asian countries such as Vietnam or China, one-person household number is growing very fast. Some people worry this trend may become more dominant and result in lower birth-rates and a smaller labor force. Personally, I find it totally fine as a life-mode choice.

First, I understand why some people object to young adults choosing to live by themselves or be never-married. They fear that these people will face with psychological or physical risks when they age. For example, my mom often said if I chose to live alone, I may get depressed due to loneliness or helpless when I had an urgent medical help such as a stroke or heart-attack. To a greater extent, some people may claim this trend will lead to declining marriage and fertility rates. If too many young people decide to live solitarily, who will bear children? and that also means no more manpower in the future.

The future may not so bleak, though. First, I want to say if we look at some authentic statistics, these figures just reflect a minority, not a substantial and worrying number. I don’t have an exact number here. But as I see, my urban contemporaries who are in the 30-35 age bracket, are mostly married and have kids. Only a few of them chose to lead an isolated or spouseless life. Second, this lifestyle is totally ok to me because those who have chosen this path have clearly understood the implications and risks. Therefore, they should have long prepared for their economic, physical and mental well-being. For health risks, they should have observed their health for a long time and prepared how to deal with emergencies by always having a phone in their hand or living in a hospice if they are too weak.

In conclusion, though living alone means we can have some risks of physical and psychological well-being, living with other people doesn’t have less risks. I mean if mental and physical health is better guaranteed, they will have other problems due to living with others such as arguments or disturbance. Therefore, choosing to be single or living alone are just as fine and as bad.