Finland is a country of lonely people.
In Finland there are more than 1.25 million people living alone, and among them more than 1 million are over 30 years old, according to the latest figures for dwellings and housing conditions published by Statistics Finland.
These figures mean that the percentage of people living alone in Finland represents almost 23% of the total population of a country of just over 5.5 million inhabitants.
Last year the number of people living alone increased further, 33,000 more were living alone in 2020 than in the year before. Over the past five years, the number of people living alone has increased every year in nearly all age groups.
There are already 545,000 working-age persons aged 30 to 64 living alone and they are the largest age group living alone. This number has grown by 245,000 since 1990, particularly in recent years due to the size of the age cohort born in the 1980s.
The share of persons living alone among the 30 to 64 age group has grown fairly steadily and in 2020 they numbered more than one in five.
People under 30
The number of persons aged under 30 living alone has more than doubled since 1990 from 100,000 to 253,000.
The share of persons living alone among the dwelling population aged under 30 has grown most in relative terms in recent years, partly due to the student financial aid and housing allowance reform in 2017.
Source: Statistics Finland.
People aged 65 or over
The number of persons aged 65 or over living alone has grown over the same period by 210,000 persons, their number being 457,000 in 2020.
Although the number of aged persons living alone is growing, the share of people living alone among the dwelling population aged 65 or over has been falling slightly for good ten years. This is particularly explained by the lengthened life expectancy of men, which means that people become widowed later and later.
There are twice as many women as men living alone among those aged 65 or over, while among younger people it is more common for men to live alone.
