More and smaller households in 2050

19/04/2007 15:00

According to the newest households forecast from Statistics Netherlands, the number of private households in the Netherlands is set to grow from 7.2 million today to 8.0 million in 2050. The average size of these households will drop from 2.3 persons to 2.1 persons in the same period.

Households

More people living alone

By 2050 there are expected to be nearly one million more single people than there are now. This means that the number of single households will rise from 2.6 to 3.5 million. The number of multi-person households will fall from 4.6 to 4.5 million. The decrease in average household size to 2.1 persons will mainly be caused by more people living alone. The average size of multi-person households will remain about the same, at 2.9 persons.

Population ageing: more singles

More than two-thirds of the increase in the number of singles will take place in the group aged 65 years and older. The number of single people aged over 65 will rise from 0.8 to 1.4 million. There are more singles among the older age groups because of the greater risk of one of the partners dying. Population ageing will therefore lead to an increase in the number of singles. Elderly people live independently to increasingly older ages.

Singles

The increase in the number of singles is restricted somewhat because in the future older cohabiting couples will lose a partner through death at higher ages.

More middle-aged singles too

The number of singles aged between 35 and 65 years will rise from 1.0 to 1.3 million. More couples choose to cohabit today instead of getting married. As relationships of unmarried couples are more likely to break up than those of married couples, this, too, will result in more singles.

Household types

Percentage of couples will drop to 50 in 2050

In 2050, half of the total number of households will consist of couples, with or without children. Last year this was 58 percent. The percentage of one-parent families will remain about the same at 6 percent. At middle and young ages, the number of one-parent families will increase, however.

Coen van Duin