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Generation Of Swinging Singles Growing Old - And Lonely
By Neo Hui Min, The Sunset Years
July 20, 2004
LONDON - The number of Britons leading lonely lives in their old age will grow to millions within the next 15 years as their choice of living independently during their youth catches up on them.
Research by think-tank Demos and the Women's Royal Voluntary Service (WRVS) projected that the number of isolated elderly people will grow by a third to 2.2 million by 2021.
The true figure, the report added, could be even higher because of under-reporting and also because the risk factors for isolation are increasing.
Some 9.57 million people are over 65 now, of which about 17 per cent, or 1.62 million of them, said that they are not in weekly contact with friends, family or
neighbours.
The Government Actuary Department has projected the population of over-65s to hit 12.73 million in 2021. Demos used these figures to estimate the number of socially isolated individuals to grow by a third from now.
Current social trends, including the rise in singlehood, increase in divorces, popularity of mobility and decline of multigenerational households were cited as contributing factors leading to isolation in old age.
Single-person households have risen by 26 per cent between 1991 and 2001, and divorce rates have been climbing since the 1950s, registering a peak of 180,000 in 1993 and steadying at 157,000 in 2001.
In addition, the 'Friends Generation' - a lifestyle where friends are as important as family, typified by the American sitcom Friends - may be setting the stage for loneliness in later days.
The report's authors, Ms Helen McCarthy and Ms Gillian Thomas, warned that 'living alone may represent freedom and independence for younger people, but starts to be a major risk factor for loneliness and isolation as they get older'.
'Friends become a scarcer commodity with age, as your contemporaries move away and it becomes harder to make new friends,' they said.
But critics said changing lifestyle and advancements in telecommunication technology allow the elderly who live alone to communicate with others easily.
The Observer newspaper columnist Yvonne Roberts called the research an 'arithmetic of Armageddon'.
She pointed out that the next generation of elderly are 'avid users of the Internet', and with relatively cheaper travel, geographical distances are 'no longer such an obstacle'.
But charities such as Contact The Elderly, which has 250 groups around Britain providing visits to homebound elderly, said the 'problem is vast and increasing'.
Statistics from a WRVS survey was even more dismal - 12,000 elderly people die alone in their homes here every year. This means that every day, 32 people die unnoticed at home.
It said Britain's elderly are 'losing the will to live' through lack of personal contact.
'In the worst scenarios, single pensioners are driven to depression and suicide,' it said.
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