In 2024, according to calculations by Statistics Austria based on the microcensus labor force survey, 1.6 million people lived alone. This is 430,000 more people than 20 years earlier. "The trend towards single-person households is unbroken," said Statistics Austria Director General Tobias Thomas. The most common group of people living alone are still women aged 65 and over.

Increase in Single-Person Households

17.8 percent of the population in Austria therefore live alone. For comparison: 20 years ago, this proportion was 14.6 percent. The proportion of those living in a partnership "has remained almost stable at just under half of the population over the same period, with marriage losing some significance compared to cohabitation," said Thomas.

Older Women Most Frequently Living Alone

The largest group of people living alone in 2024 were those over 64 years old (605,000 or 34.3 percent of this age group), of which more than two-thirds were women (425,000). With 318,000 people, those aged 55 to 64 represented the second largest group among those living alone (23.4 percent of this age group). Only 2.6 percent (or 57,000 people) under 25 years lived alone in a household, while it was 14.8 percent among those aged 35 to 44 and 16.0 percent among those aged 45 to 54.

Half of the Population Lives in a Partnership

In 2024, 4.4 million people lived with a partner in the household, corresponding to a share of 49 percent. According to Statistics Austria, the proportion of the population living in a partnership has remained fairly constant over the past 20 years, but the proportion of people with and without a marriage certificate has shifted: In 2004, 41.8 percent lived with their spouse, this share slightly decreased to 39.1 percent 20 years later. Conversely, the proportion of cohabitations without a marriage certificate steadily increased (from 7.3 percent to 9.9 percent).

Between the ages of 35 and 54, more than 70 percent of the population lived in private households in a partnership in 2024, while in earlier and later years of life this proportion fell to about 50 percent. While in younger age a partnership without a marriage certificate is more common, "this ratio reverses in older years," according to Statistics Austria.

(APA/Red)

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