The Rising Prevalence of Living Alone among Young Adults in China: A Decomposition Analysis

Yuanyuan Duan, China Agricultural University

The prevalence of young adults living alone in China has increased significantly over the past 20 years. This increase reflects changes in marital behaviour, population mobility, and young people's attitudes and preferences towards living alone, yet few studies have analysed the impact of these factors on increasing trend of solo living. Using 1‰ samples of China’s population census data from the 2000, 2010 and 2020, this study investigates the contributions of these three key factors driving the increase in prevalence of young adults living alone in China through a decomposing method. Primary results indicate that population mobility and propensity to living alone played larger roles in the rising prevalence of young adults living alone compared to marital status. The propensity to live alone was the dominate factor driving the increase from 2000 to 2010, while mobility became the dominated factor from 2010 to 2020.

Keywords: Families, Unions and Households, Decomposition analysis

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