How many people live alone in the UK?
Around 8.6 million people lived alone in the UK in 2025, making up 29.5% of all households, according to the ONS Families and households in the UK: 2025, published on 17 April 2026. Nearly half of them (49.6%) were aged 65 or over, up from 46.9% in 2015.
There were 29.0 million households in the UK in 2025, 7.2% more than in 2015, and 66.8% contained one family. The same release shows that 28.7% of adults aged 20 to 34 lived with their parents.
These estimates come from the Labour Force Survey, whose smaller samples in recent years have increased uncertainty, so small year-to-year changes may not be statistically significant. The census gives more detail for local areas.
When is the next figure out?
The ONS pre-announces population and vital statistics releases on its release calendar and publishes at 9:30am or 7am. Births data for England and Wales come out in two stages each year: counts in the spring and final fertility rates in late summer or autumn. Mid-year estimates appear in the summer or autumn after the reference year, and marriage statistics about two years after the year they cover. NRS and NISRA publish quarterly vital events tables and their own annual reports.
Every official release due in the next two weeks is on the release calendar.
Where the figures come from
- UK population and vital statistics (ONS, National Records of Scotland and NISRA)Where to find official UK figures on births, fertility, baby names, marriage, divorce, households, population estimates, projections and the census.
Related questions
This answer says where the official figures are published and how they are defined. It gives no verdict on any claim. To report an error, send a correction request. More questions about population, births and families: all Population, births and families questions.