How many people live alone?

A total of 3.3 million Dutch people were living alone at the start of 2024. That is almost 1 in 5 of the population. Even so, the majority do share their homes with other people – usually with a partner or as part of a family with children or (less often) as part of a single-parent family. Some people cohabit with a brother or sister, and a small proportion of people live in institutions.

The largest group of people living alone are women aged 70 and older. They are often left living alone after the death of a partner. A relatively high number of twenty-somethings also live alone, and slightly more men than women. Among those in their 30s and 40s, men living alone are clearly in the majority. This is partly because they are more likely to live alone following a divorce, while children are more likely to continue living with their mother.

These figures are based on people’s registered home addresses. A person can only be officially resident at one address, so there is no information on whether children with divorced parents also spend some of their time with their father, for instance. Some people who live alone also have a partner. In 2023, a quarter of those aged between 18 and 79 who live alone said they were in a steady relationship. Twenty-somethings living alone were the most likely to report this (38 percent), while those aged 65 to 79 are the least likely to (10 percent).

Number of people living alone began to rise in the 1970s

Around the middle of the last century, it was much more unusual for people to live alone. In 1960, for instance, 387 thousand people lived alone – just 3 percent of the population. That proportion began to rise in the 1970s, passing 10 percent by the mid-1980s. At that time, over 1.5 million people were living alone. At the beginning of 2024, 19 percent of the population, or 3.3 million people, lived alone.

Since the 1970s, it has become more common for young adults not to marry or not to move in with a partner as soon as they leave home. Divorce has also become more common. Another factor contributing to the rise in the number of people living alone is the fact that our population is ageing and older people often continue to live independently for longer following the loss of a partner.

Show datatablePopulation of the Netherlands* (million)Hide datatablePopulation of the Netherlands* (million)

Population of the Netherlands* (million)

Jaar	Living with other people	Living alone
1960	11.030	0.387
1961	11.146	0.410
1962	11.288	0.433
1963	11.433	0.457
1964	11.558	0.484
1965	11.699	0.513
1966	11.833	0.544
1967	11.959	0.576
1968	12.052	0.609
1969	12.154	0.644
1970	12.279	0.679
1971	12.403	0.716
1972	12.514	0.756
1973	12.589	0.799
1974	12.649	0.842
1975	12.716	0.883
1976	12.810	0.924
1977	12.850	0.964
1978	12.894	1.004
1979	12.944	1.042
1980	13.006	1.085
1981	13.070	1.139
1982	13.046	1.240
1983	12.997	1.343
1984	12.946	1.449
1985	12.898	1.556
1986	12.925	1.604
1987	12.957	1.658
1988	13.038	1.677
1989	13.084	1.721
1990	13.080	1.813
1991	13.166	1.844
1992	13.216	1.913
1993	13.271	1.968
1994	13.339	2.003
1995	13.315	2.109
1996	13.370	2.124
1997	13.409	2.158
1998	13.453	2.201
1999	13.505	2.255
2000	13.592	2.272
2001	13.680	2.307
2002	13.760	2.345
2003	13.809	2.384
2004	13.834	2.424
2005	13.857	2.449
2006	13.832	2.502
2007	13.821	2.537
2008	13.834	2.571
2009	13.867	2.619
2010	13.905	2.670
2011	13.948	2.708
2012	13.968	2.762
2013	13.978	2.802
2014	14.025	2.804
2015	14.033	2.868
2016	14.073	2.906
2017	14.121	2.961
2018	14.183	2.998
2019	14.244	3.038
2020	14.328	3.080
2021	14.378	3.097
2022	14.418	3.173
2023	14.545	3.266
* as of 1 January of the relevant year