All I Want for Christmas…

Christmas can be a particularly lonely time of year for the UK's population of singles, but the new Singles Report from marketing data and intelligence experts EuroDirect promises hope for meeting that someone special by revealing which Post Areas in the UK have the highest proportion of singles, as well as the areas with the greatest disparity between single men and women living alone.

The new report shows:

• the top twenty UK post areas by population for singles living alone
• that if it's love you're after, where to look to find your ideal man or woman by revealing the UK Post Areas with the greatest disparities between male and female singles living alone
• the age bands of UK singles living alone and the gender disparities within each band.

Who are the UK 's singles living alone?

Of the 9,899,196 single people living alone in the UK , identified from EuroDirect's Data Exchange database, 52% are female, which means there are nearly 500,000 more single females than males.

Ages of UK singles living alone

The 75-plus age band makes up the largest group of those living alone in the UK , accounting for nearly 20% of the UK single population (Table 1).

The 60-74 group make up just over 19% which means a total of almost 40% of the single people living alone in the UK are over 65.

But perhaps more surprising is that the 35-44 year olds group make up a very significant 20% of the single population living alone in the UK .

The 17-29 age group who would possibly be considered to be more likely to be single and living alone make up less than 9%, a total group of 846,381 young singles living alone in the UK.

Greatest disparities between men and women by age band of UK singles living alone

Examining the disparity between males and females across age groups, the greatest difference is identified in the over 75 years of age band, with 36% more women than men (Table 1).

In the 55 to 59 age group that disparity is 24% in the men's favour, yet in the 25-29 age group this disparity is reversed, with 24% more single women living alone than men.

Table 1: Age Bands of UK singles living alone

Where are the UK 's singles that live alone?

The report reveals there are definite concentrations of single populations in the UK , with just the top ten Post Areas for singles significantly accounting for over 20% of all the UK 's singles living alone.

Birmingham has the most singles living alone with 281,742; contributing over 40,000 more singles to the report than its next rival Belfast , which has a population of 239,034 singles living alone (Table 2).

Glasgow and Sheffield are 3 rd and 4 th on the list with populations of about 221,564 and 215,965 singles living alone respectively.

According to the Singles Report, the best place to live to meet single people in the UK is The North, with Sheffield, Newcastle, Manchester and Liverpool all making the top ten.

London has a strong showing of singles living alone, with both SE and SW London Post Areas making the top ten, coming in at 8 and 9 on the list respectively.

Table 2: The top twenty UK post areas for singles living alone

The UK Post Areas with the greatest disparity between men and women singles living alone

The Singles Report identifies the Post Areas where singles have the greatest chance of finding love this festive season, hopefully just in time to make a connection in the run up to Valentines Day 2007 (Table 3 & 4).

Glasgow has the highest amount of female singles living alone compared to the men with nearly 40,000 more women than men. Belfast is second with over 30,000 more women and Edinburgh is third with over 25,000 more single females over males.

The North is again well represented in the female singles statistics; Liverpool is fourth with nearly 20,000 more single women and Sheffield rounds out the top five with over 15,000 more women than men.

Wales has a high proportion of single women compared to men with Swansea and Cardiff at 7 and 8 on the list respectively, boasting a combined total over 30,000 more single women than men.

When it comes to the greatest proportion of single men, Reading tops the stakes with the largest disparity between single males living alone to women, with over 10,000 more single males than females. Rochester is next best for finding single males living alone with nearly 9,500.

The Isle of Man is the 10 th on the list of post areas with more men than women with nearly 4,000 more single men living alone there than single women.

Table 3: Top 20 Post Areas for female singles living alone

Table 4: Top 20 Post Areas for male singles living alone

John Dobson , Managing Director of EuroDirect comments:

"While our Singles Report is foremost designed to assist marketers to better target campaigns with accurate profiling of key segments of society, the data also provides interesting sociological insights into the very fabric of life in the UK. For many people, living alone is a lifestyle choice, but for others it is perhaps a situation they would prefer not to be in. By identifying the Post Areas where the UK 's singles living alone are located and the areas with the greatest amount of disparity between the genders this report might be able to help more than just marketers find who people want to connect with most."