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Daily Mail
9 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Lonely Britain: Surge in people living alone to 8.4m fuelled by rise in over-65s
A record number of people are now living alone in the UK with a surge over the past decade driven entirely by a rise in over-65s residing on their own, official figures show. In total there were 8.4 million Britons living alone in 2024 - an increase of 11 per cent from 7.6 million people in 2014 - equivalent to 12.5 per cent of all UK households. More than half were 65 and over with an estimated 4.3 million over-65s living alone last year, up from 3.5 million a decade earlier, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. The statistics body said that 'people aged 65 years or over accounted in full for the increase in people living alone' while the number of people aged under 65 years living on their own remained stable. Some 40.9 per cent of women aged 65 and over lived alone compared to 27 per cent of men of the same age. The ONS said this reflects greater life expectancies in women while data also shows that men are more likely to remarry. Experts have raised the alarm over the epidemic of loneliness facing Britons, with the World Health Organisation declaring loneliness to be a pressing global health threat in 2023. The figures also show that the proportion of young adults living with their parents has risen by almost 10 per cent in a decade. Some 3.6 million people aged 20 to 34 years lived with their parents in 2024 compared to 3.3 million in 2014 - with more young adults now living with their parents at older ages. Young men are more likely to be at home with their parents than women, with 33.7 per cent of men aged between 20 and 34 years living in the family home, compared with 22.1 per cent of women. The ONS said more young adults living with their parents at older ages is part of a 'trend of adults reaching milestones later in life' - such as getting married and having children - and may be 'explained by a number of factors including increased housing costs'. Alison Fernandes, a partner at Hall Brown Family Law, said the rise in the number of women aged over 65 living alone indicated how much more confident women are now than their counterparts in previous generations. She said: 'Some of these individuals will have been among the first to capitalise on the opportunities to develop careers on an equal footing with men as a result of sex equality legislation. 'Having worked hard to establish a sense of financial independence, many will be wary of seeing it jeopardised. 'That is because they know a significant proportion of marriages do not sadly last the course. In fact, some of these women may already have been divorced and not wish to experience a repeat.' She added: 'That contrasts greatly with men of a similar age who are far more likely to remarry after a break-up.'
BBC News
9 minutes ago
- BBC News
Vintage train carriage lifted from couple's garden in Somerset
A rare, vintage train carriage which a couple had used as makeshift shed has been lifted out of their garden to be donated to a railway Somerset and Dorset Railway Trust will restore the carriage, which a couple found in their new home's garden. It was lifted from their property by a 100-tonne-crane on Cripps and George Pike from Cannington in Somerset decided to donate the carriage to get it "back to where it deserves to be"."It's really unusual. A lovely little surprise when we viewed the house," Ms Cripps said. The couple moved into the home two years ago and had used the carriage "as a shed" until they decided to donate it in March this year."We just knew we couldn't take care of it properly," Mr Pike Marshman, director of the trust, came to pick up the carriage and said it was "like Christmas"."How often do you get a railway carriage at the back of a garden? We snapped it up," he added. According to Mr Marshman, the carriage had likely been retired in 1930, after being built in 1880. It is one of only five of its kind in will be restored at Shillingstone in Dorset, which used to be part of the Somerset line."It had a good life before it was retired," Mr Marshman added."The idea is to get a whole train fully restored with passengers. It would be a dream come true."
BBC News
9 minutes ago
- BBC News
Gwynedd residents living 'in the old days' after wi-fi loss
Residents in a village in north Wales say they feel like they're living "in the old days" after losing wi-fi for most of the in Llangwnnadl, Gwynedd estimate around 40 homes have been without broadband since 4 July, but some in the village still have a woman said her husband, who has blood cancer, cannot get test results from the hospital, while a campsite owner has said she has to drive to another town to place business orders which runs the UK's digital network, apologised, saying the issue began after a pole replacement, and work was underway to restore service. Some villagers said they relied on broadband for all their TV and phone of them, Helen Griffith, said her husband needs regular blood tests at Bangor hospital every three weeks, but without phone service, they cannot receive his results."I can't make calls either... if something serious happens, how would we get help?" she said. "We're totally dependent on it. It's sobering - we feel like we're back in the old days." Joanna Smith, who runs Moel-Y-Berth campsite and café, said: "We rely on customers' patience. "It's slowed everything down - bookings, payments - we're now asking most people to pay in cash. "It's stressful, really stressful." Ms Smith said she can only place café orders by driving 30 minutes to Pwllheli to use someone else's wi-fi."I had to go into town today to get good wi-fi in another café to make my orders there, so it takes a lot of extra time," she added. An Openreach spokesperson said it understood how "frustrating" this was and thanked those impacted for their patience. "Our engineers are working to get everyone back up and running as quickly as possible."
