Barcelona is home to a reality that has been consolidating over the decades: the significant increase in the number of people who choose to live alone. According to data from the city’s municipal census in 2023, a total of 213,839 Barcelona residents, representing 13% of the population, live in single-person households.
This phenomenon, far from being an isolated event, is part of a global trend affecting many of the world’s major cities.
Compared to 1991, the number of people who have chosen to live alone has increased significantly, doubling in both percentage and number. This change, far from being an ephemeral trend, seems to be consolidating and maintaining a moderate upward trend throughout the 21st century.
The city reached a new peak in 2023, with 13% of its population opting for independence in single-person households.
Demographic profile of people who prefer to live alone
The phenomenon of living alone does not affect all age groups homogeneously. It is especially prominent among the elderly, where 43% of the total number of those living alone belong to this group.
Twenty-five percent of Barcelona residents over the age of 65 have opted to live alone, a figure that rises to 28.9% among those over 70 and reaches almost 40% among those over 90.
Elderly women, widowed and with reduced personal autonomy, are the ones who most demand accompaniment, representing 60% of the elderly alone in the city.
Carles Donat, co-director of the Metropolitan Housing Observatory of Barcelona (O-HB), points out that this almost generalized increase in people living alone is a global trend in large cities.
In Barcelona, this phenomenon is attributed to an aging population and the increase in the cost of access to housing, together with poorer conditions compared to surrounding municipalities.
The data show that there is considerable variability in the proportion of people living alone depending on the neighborhoods of Barcelona.
Barceloneta tops the list, with 21.3% of residents living alone, followed by La Ribera (19.4%) and Vila de Gràcia (17.9%). On the other hand, neighborhoods such as Bon Pastor (7.7%), Torre Baró (8%), Ciutat Meridiana (8.1%), Vallvidrera, Tibidabo i les Planes (8.2%), and others, show lower proportions.
Unwanted loneliness
The paradox highlighted by Donat is that, despite the growing difficulties in accessing housing for the last two decades, the tendency to live alone has been maintained, especially among the young population, where it does not exceed 10% in their age group. This phenomenon poses challenges in terms of housing demand and supply in the city.
One of the notable consequences of this phenomenon is unwanted loneliness, especially among the elderly population.
