placestats

One-person households vs. Population 65+

Holds up after adjusting for income

Across 150 countries, One-person households and Population 65+ rise and fall together at r = +0.77 (on a scale from −1 to +1, where 0 means no link). Comparing only countries with similar income (GDP per person) shrinks it to +0.53 (q = 0.041, allowing for the many pairs tested). Much of the first figure is that both measures rise with national income, but a moderate positive link remains.

Comparing countries across the middle half of one-person households, 6.71% to 22.7% of households, population 65+ is 8.86% of population higher at the top of that range than the bottom. Comparing only countries with similar national income, the gap is 5.14% of population.

Link before adjusting (r)+0.773p = 5.4e-31 · 150 countries
After adjusting for national income+0.530p = 3.7e-12 · likely range [+0.40, +0.64]
p, allowing for regions0.004standard error 0.115 · 7 regions
Check for luck (q)0.041across 12,497 pairs

How to read these.r runs from −1 (one goes up as the other goes down) to +1 (they rise together), and 0 means no link. Adjusting for national income means comparing countries with the same GDP per person, so differences in wealth can’t explain the link. Income is used in percentage terms, since an extra $1,000 means more to a poor country than to a rich one. p is how likely a link this strong would be if there were really none. Below 0.05 means it is unlikely to be chance. Very small values are written in short form: 1.1e-32 means a decimal point followed by 31 zeros and then 11, so very close to zero. The likely range is where the true figure probably lies, and a range that crosses zero means the link could easily be chance. Countries in the same region tend to resemble each other, so the third figure allows for that, which gives a fairer p. The standard error is the typical size of the error in r. Finally, testing this many pairs means some will look strong by luck alone. A q below 0.05 means this link is unlikely to be one of those.

One-person households · % of householdslink with income +0.70 · high
Population 65+ · % of populationlink with income +0.76 · high

Both of these rise and fall closely with national income, so a strong link between them before adjusting was close to certain. Read the adjusted figure, not the first one.

“Link with income” is how closely each measure tracks GDP per person across countries, from −1 to +1.

Every country as a dot

One-person households · % of households →Population 65+ · % of population →0.19%41.1%1.7%30%Aruba: 21.4% of households, 17.8% of populationAfghanistan: 0.19% of households, 2.43% of populationAngola: 10.8% of households, 2.89% of populationAlbania: 9.95% of households, 17.6% of populationArgentina: 22.8% of households, 12.6% of populationArmenia: 15.2% of households, 14.4% of populationAustralia: 22.8% of households, 18.1% of populationAustria: 36.3% of households, 21.1% of populationBurundi: 6.04% of households, 2.55% of populationBelgium: 34% of households, 21% of populationBenin: 9.78% of households, 3.15% of populationBurkina Faso: 6.64% of households, 2.68% of populationBangladesh: 2.85% of households, 6.67% of populationBulgaria: 30.8% of households, 22.2% of populationBahamas, The: 17.7% of households, 12.1% of populationBosnia and Herzegovina: 11.5% of households, 22.9% of populationBelarus: 38% of households, 18.3% of populationBelize: 17.2% of households, 5.23% of populationBermuda: 34.1% of households, 22.6% of populationBolivia: 20.5% of households, 5.74% of populationBrazil: 12% of households, 11.5% of populationBarbados: 26.3% of households, 17.1% of populationBrunei Darussalam: 7.22% of households, 7.24% of populationBhutan: 6.13% of households, 6.63% of populationCentral African Republic: 6.2% of households, 2.2% of populationCanada: 28.2% of households, 20.3% of populationChile: 20.2% of households, 14.6% of populationCote d'Ivoire: 17% of households, 2.65% of populationCameroon: 15.3% of households, 2.82% of populationCongo, Dem. Rep.: 7.55% of households, 3.08% of populationCongo, Rep.: 13.8% of households, 3.06% of populationColombia: 11.1% of households, 10.2% of populationComoros: 4.91% of households, 4.45% of populationCosta Rica: 12.1% of households, 12.8% of populationCyprus: 20.8% of households, 14.9% of populationCzechia: 32.5% of households, 21.2% of populationGermany: 37.3% of households, 23.7% of populationDominican Republic: 20.1% of households, 8.19% of populationAlgeria: 1.61% of households, 6.81% of populationEgypt, Arab Rep.: 6.48% of households, 5.27% of populationSpain: 23.2% of households, 21.6% of populationEthiopia: 6.36% of households, 3.3% of populationFinland: 41% of households, 24.2% of populationFiji: 5.94% of households, 6.63% of populationFrance: 35.5% of households, 22.5% of populationGabon: 22.4% of households, 4.13% of populationUnited Kingdom: 30.6% of households, 19.7% of populationGeorgia: 15% of households, 16% of populationGhana: 21.5% of households, 3.79% of populationGuinea: 5.07% of households, 3.47% of populationGambia, The: 9.72% of households, 3.18% of populationGuinea-Bissau: 4.14% of households, 3.24% of populationGreece: 25.7% of households, 24.4% of populationGuatemala: 4.33% of households, 4.96% of populationGuyana: 15.8% of households, 6.98% of populationHong Kong SAR, China: 18.3% of households, 23.7% of populationHonduras: 10.4% of households, 4.54% of populationCroatia: 24.6% of households, 23.6% of populationHaiti: 9.43% of households, 4.79% of populationHungary: 32.1% of households, 21.2% of populationIndonesia: 7.1% of households, 7.54% of populationIndia: 5.11% of households, 7.38% of populationIreland: 22% of households, 16.2% of populationIran, Islamic Rep.: 7.16% of households, 8.58% of populationIraq: 1.01% of households, 3.45% of populationItaly: 31.1% of households, 25.1% of populationJamaica: 28.2% of households, 8.58% of populationJordan: 4.36% of households, 4.75% of populationJapan: 34.5% of households, 30% of populationKazakhstan: 15.5% of households, 9% of populationKenya: 19.4% of households, 3.02% of populationKyrgyz Republic: 12.3% of households, 5.97% of populationCambodia: 3.37% of households, 6.38% of populationKiribati: 3.71% of households, 4.38% of populationKorea, Rep.: 31.8% of households, 20.3% of populationLao PDR: 3.18% of households, 4.81% of populationLiberia: 12% of households, 3.33% of populationSt. Lucia: 26.8% of households, 9.96% of populationLesotho: 18% of households, 3.88% of populationLithuania: 31.7% of households, 20.7% of populationLuxembourg: 33.3% of households, 15.8% of populationLatvia: 41.1% of households, 22.2% of populationMacao SAR, China: 15.1% of households, 15.1% of populationMorocco: 7.2% of households, 8.45% of populationMoldova: 22.6% of households, 16.9% of populationMadagascar: 7.11% of households, 3.47% of populationMaldives: 4.49% of households, 4.96% of populationMexico: 10.1% of households, 8.52% of populationNorth Macedonia: 11.8% of households, 18.5% of populationMali: 3.11% of households, 2.36% of populationMalta: 22.6% of households, 20.5% of populationMyanmar: 5.35% of households, 7.52% of populationMontenegro: 15.4% of households, 18.3% of populationMongolia: 8.96% of households, 5.43% of populationMozambique: 8.41% of households, 2.73% of populationMauritania: 3.97% of households, 3.25% of populationMalawi: 7.2% of households, 2.59% of populationNamibia: 17.4% of households, 3.79% of populationNiger: 3.19% of households, 2.62% of populationNigeria: 14.7% of households, 3.07% of populationNorway: 39.6% of households, 19.1% of populationNepal: 4.51% of households, 6.62% of populationNew Zealand: 21.9% of households, 17.6% of populationPakistan: 1.08% of households, 4.36% of populationPanama: 13.4% of households, 9.66% of populationPeru: 16.8% of households, 9.47% of populationPhilippines: 9.18% of households, 5.72% of populationPoland: 24% of households, 20.8% of populationPuerto Rico (US): 23.1% of households, 25.3% of populationPortugal: 21.4% of households, 24.9% of populationParaguay: 10.4% of households, 6.72% of populationWest Bank and Gaza: 4.31% of households, 3.85% of populationQatar: 6.98% of households, 1.7% of populationRomania: 26% of households, 20.1% of populationRussian Federation: 25.7% of households, 17.8% of populationRwanda: 7.69% of households, 4.02% of populationSudan: 1.59% of households, 3.39% of populationSenegal: 6.92% of households, 3.65% of populationSingapore: 16.1% of households, 14.2% of populationSierra Leone: 6.42% of households, 3.28% of populationEl Salvador: 8.46% of households, 8.31% of populationSomalia, Fed. Rep.: 1.53% of households, 2.62% of populationSerbia: 21.8% of households, 23.1% of populationSao Tome and Principe: 13.8% of households, 3.94% of populationSuriname: 14% of households, 8.19% of populationSlovak Republic: 25.3% of households, 19% of populationSlovenia: 32.6% of households, 22.2% of populationEswatini: 21.7% of households, 4.35% of populationSint Maarten (Dutch part): 31.3% of households, 14.5% of populationTurks and Caicos Islands: 33.6% of households, 11.7% of populationChad: 5.43% of households, 2.12% of populationTogo: 15.7% of households, 3.48% of populationThailand: 21.6% of households, 16% of populationTajikistan: 2.88% of households, 4.07% of populationTurkmenistan: 3.74% of households, 4.81% of populationTimor-Leste: 6.41% of households, 5.23% of populationTonga: 6.94% of households, 6.85% of populationTunisia: 6.27% of households, 9.94% of populationTuvalu: 6.92% of households, 7.04% of populationTanzania: 9.63% of households, 3.04% of populationUganda: 13.2% of households, 2.23% of populationUkraine: 25% of households, 19% of populationUruguay: 17.6% of households, 16.3% of populationUnited States: 27.9% of households, 18.4% of populationViet Nam: 10.5% of households, 9.49% of populationSamoa: 4.4% of households, 6.07% of populationKosovo: 3.32% of households, 10.5% of populationSouth Africa: 23.8% of households, 6.89% of populationZambia: 7.97% of households, 2% of populationZimbabwe: 12.9% of households, 3.56% of populationAFGALBBIHFINGABHKGIRQJAMJPNLVASOMTCA

best-fit line line after adjusting

Four ways to measure the link

MethodrpCountries
Standard (Pearson), not adjusted+0.7735.4e-31150
By rank (Spearman), not adjusted+0.7066.1e-24150
Standard (Pearson), adjusted for national income+0.5303.7e-12150
By rank (Spearman), adjusted for national income+0.3030.000150

The rank version uses only each country’s place in line, from lowest to highest, so a few extreme countries count for less. The adjusted and unadjusted versions use the same 150 countries: those that report both measures and GDP per person. So the gap between them comes from the adjustment, not from a change in which countries are counted. Drop in the size of r after adjusting: +0.243 (a minus sign means it grew).

How solid is it?

Leaving out one country at a time, r ranges from +0.496 (without QAT) to +0.553 (without BIH). The bar above shows that range on a scale from −1 to +1, with the solid line at the full result. The single country that moves r most: QAT (-0.034).

Within each region

Countries are not separate, unrelated cases, and neighbors share a lot. A link that holds inside each region is far more believable than one that shows up only when comparing regions.

nr
East Asia & Pacific22+0.87
Europe & Central Asia40+0.48
Latin America & Caribbean27+0.32
Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan12+0.88
Sub-Saharan Africa41+0.21

By income third

If the link shows up only in the richest third of countries, it is a feature of rich countries, not a general pattern.

nr
Poorest third50-0.35
Middle third50+0.27
Richest third50+0.63

By largest religious group

Countries grouped by a label they share, such as main religion, rather than by a number. Groups of fewer than twelve countries are not shown. These groups differ in income, region and history all at once. So a gap between them is a place to start asking questions, not an answer.

nr
Christians92+0.43
Muslims37+0.18

By last european coloniser

Countries grouped by a label they share, such as main religion, rather than by a number. Groups of fewer than twelve countries are not shown. These groups differ in income, region and history all at once. So a gap between them is a place to start asking questions, not an answer.

nr
France22-0.42
Never a European colony15+0.82
Spain16+0.22
United Kingdom44+0.47

Without outliers (countries far outside the middle half of countries on either measure, by more than one and a half times the width of that middle half): r = +0.530 after dropping 0 countries.

Two series, one country

Both measures over the years for one country you pick. The two charts are stacked so they share only the years along the bottom.

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Over time, within countries

Everything above compares countries with each other at one moment. This section compares each country only with itself over 32years. So a link here can’t come from anything about a country that stays the same, such as its history, geography, institutions or culture.

Within countries over time, there is no link that is clearly more than chance (r = +0.301, comparing each country only with itself over the years, and each year only with the same year elsewhere). Whatever the cross-country picture shows, countries whose one-person households moved did not tend to see their population 65+ move with it.

Across countries (adjusted)+0.530for comparison
Within countries+0.465each country vs itself
…and vs the same year elsewhere+0.301q = 0.068 · 56 countries
Year-on-year changes—q = —
Read with care.
  • Almost all of the second indicator's variation is between countries, so the within-country estimate rests on a small part of the data.

407 country-years (one country in one year), 56 countries, 1990–2021, about 7 years each on average. Share of the variation that happens within countries over time: 13% for One-person households, 5% for Population 65+. The margins of error allow for each country appearing many times, and for each year’s value being close to the year before.

Year-to-year changes are a cautious test, not a final answer. Looking only at changes from one year to the next removes each country’s own trends. But it also makes measurement mistakes louder, which pulls the results toward zero. A near-zero result here is weak evidence of no link, not proof.

With one measure years behind the other

0.40−0.4-100+10years Population 65+ trails One-person households →lag -10: r = 0.182 (n = 247)lag -9: r = 0.165 (n = 274)lag -8: r = 0.165 (n = 289)lag -7: r = 0.194 (n = 307)lag -6: r = 0.234 (n = 322)lag -5: r = 0.246 (n = 332)lag -4: r = 0.262 (n = 357)lag -3: r = 0.261 (n = 365)lag -2: r = 0.256 (n = 379)lag -1: r = 0.266 (n = 390)lag +0: r = 0.301 (n = 407)lag +1: r = 0.299 (n = 407)lag +2: r = 0.302 (n = 407)lag +3: r = 0.309 (n = 407)lag +4: r = 0.315 (n = 407)lag +5: r = 0.323 (n = 406)lag +6: r = 0.329 (n = 397)lag +7: r = 0.245 (n = 368)lag +8: r = 0.270 (n = 349)lag +9: r = 0.271 (n = 325)lag +10: r = 0.269 (n = 300)

Same year (lag 0): +0.301. A peak away from zero does not show which comes first. These series change slowly — this year’s value is close to last year’s. That makes the curve smooth and nearly symmetric, whatever produced the data. Even a sharp peak at one lag (a gap of some years) would not prove that one measure changes the other.

The data


% of households
% of population		Years
Latvia LVA41.1%22.2%2021, 2025
Finland FIN41%24.2%2010, 2025
Norway NOR39.6%19.1%2011, 2025
Belarus BLR38%18.3%2019, 2025
Germany DEU37.3%23.7%2011, 2025
Austria AUT36.3%21.1%2011, 2025
France FRA35.5%22.5%2015, 2025
Japan JPN34.5%30%2015, 2025
Bermuda BMU34.1%22.6%2016, 2025
Belgium BEL34%21%2011, 2025
Turks and Caicos Islands TCA33.6%11.7%2019, 2025
Luxembourg LUX33.3%15.8%2011, 2025
Slovenia SVN32.6%22.2%2015, 2025
Czechia CZE32.5%21.2%2011, 2025
Hungary HUN32.1%21.2%2011, 2025

United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2022). Database on Household Size and Composition 2022.
World Bank, World Development Indicators

Sources

One-person households

Share of one-person households

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division · via Our World in Data · CC BY 3.0 IGO · updated irregular (2017, 2019 and 2022 editions)

Households of one person, from the same UN collection as the single-parent share and with the same limits: one to three readings per country, from sources that sort households differently, and few after 2019. It rises with age and with income, and falls with family size. That is three different things in one number. No "better" direction is set.

Population 65+

Population ages 65 and above (% of total)

World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · updated quarterly

How this was computed

Data used: most recent value in 2010-2025; values come from 2010–2025. To adjust for income, each measure is first predicted from GDP per person (in percentage terms, on a log scale) with a straight-line fit. Only what is left over is then compared. This is called a partial correlation. The line is drawn the standard way (ordinary least squares), which picks the line that comes closest to all the countries at once. The error margins allow for countries in the same region resembling each other, using 7 World Bank regions. The q-value corrects for testing all 12,497 pairs at once, using the Benjamini–Hochberg method. Underlying data last updated DYB 2024. How the country data works · explore One-person households and Population 65+

This page shows that two measures go together. It does not show that One-person households changes Population 65+, or the reverse. These figures also describe countries, not individual people. See the ecological fallacy.

More links with One-person households or Population 65+