Singles Awareness Day

Facts About Singles Awareness Day

Singles Awareness Day highlights the growing visibility and diversity of people who live outside traditional romantic partnerships.

These facts explore how singlehood has evolved socially, economically, and culturally, challenging outdated assumptions and showing why being single is an increasingly common and meaningful way of life.

• Singles Are a Major Demographic Force

  In the United States alone, an estimated 132.3 million adults were unmarried in 2022—defined as never married, divorced, or widowed—representing more than half (about 54%) of the adult population.

  This sizable group shapes housing markets, consumer trends, and workplace policies, underscoring that singlehood is a major social and economic reality rather than a marginal exception. 

• Single-Person Households Are Rapidly Increasing Globally

  Around the world, one-person households have become one of the fastest-growing living arrangements.

  In many high-income countries—including parts of Europe, Japan, and North America—single-person homes now account for roughly one-quarter to one-third of all households, a historic shift driven by longer life expectancy, urbanization, and changing attitudes toward marriage and independence.

• Singlehood No Longer Predicts Poor Well-Being

  Contemporary psychological research finds that being single does not automatically mean being less happy or less healthy.

  Large population studies show that many never-married adults report equal or higher life satisfaction than some married peers, particularly when they have strong friendships, meaningful work, and autonomy—challenging the old assumption that marriage is the only route to fulfillment. 

• The “Single at 30” Stigma Has Deep Historical Roots

  For much of European history, unmarried adults—especially women—were stigmatized or economically penalized; in early modern England, for example, unmarried women could be portrayed as morally suspect or burdensome.

  Similar pressures appeared in other cultures through higher taxes, social exclusion, or reduced inheritance rights, reflecting how strongly marriage was tied to social status and security. 

• Chinese Singles’ Day Became the World’s Biggest Shopping Event

  China’s Singles’ Day on November 11 began in the 1990s as a playful anti-Valentine’s celebration among college students but was later commercialized by e-commerce giant Alibaba.

  By 2024, the associated online shopping festival generated an estimated US$200+ billion in gross merchandise volume—far surpassing the combined online sales of Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the United States. 

• Self-Compassion Is Scientifically Linked to Better Mental Health

  The self-focus often encouraged among single adults aligns with a robust research base on self-compassion.

  Meta-analyses show that people who practice treating themselves with kindness, recognizing shared human struggles, and staying mindful of their emotions tend to have lower levels of anxiety and depression and higher life satisfaction—benefits that do not depend on relationship status. 

• Solo Travel Has Evolved Into a Dedicated Industry Segment

  As more adults delay or forgo marriage, travel providers have increasingly targeted solo travelers with no-single-supplement tours, communal hostels, and meet-up style itineraries. Surveys by industry bodies like the Adventure Travel Trade Association report that solo bookings, especially by women, have grown significantly in the past decade, turning singlehood into a lucrative and normalized travel market.