Living Alone in Mid-Life – Socioeconomic Patterns and Pathways into Living Alone in Finland, 1970–2018

Hanna Remes , University of Helsinki
Outi Sirniö, University of Helsinki
Sanni Variskallio, University of Helsinki
Pekka Martikainen, University of Helsinki

Living alone is becoming more common among both men and women in most parts of the world, yet we still know little on the socioeconomic patterns and pathways into living alone in mid-life. Using individual-level total population data based on administrative registers, we compare the educational attainment and income of those living alone and those living with others among women and men aged 45–49 years at the end of years 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2018 in Finland. In addition, we describe the living arrangement pathways between ages 20–49 using sequence analysis among those living alone at age 49 in 2016–18. In five decades, living alone in mid-life increased five-fold to 23% among men, and doubled to 15% among women. The socioeconomic position of men living alone changed little: solo-living men in mid-life were consistently lower educated and less earning than men living with others. Among women, however, the socioeconomic distribution reversed from higher education and income being more common among solo-living women up to 1990 to resemble that of solo-living men. In 2000s, both men and women living alone tended to have increasingly lower education and income than those living with others. The living arrangement pathways into living alone also differed by education and level of mid-life income, highlighting heterogeneity among those living alone in mid-life.

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 Presented in Session 31. Time Trends in Family and Household Types