Number of households in Germany 2000-2018, by size

The number of one-person households in Germany has been increasing in the last decade, while the opposite was true for three-person homes. In 2018, 17.3 thousand German households had one occupant.

Ageing population

These trends may be rooted in various reasons, such as population developments, ageing, urbanization, individual lifestyles, flexible living arrangements. When looking at the growing number of one-person households, depending on the age group, this increase may be due to being single, for example, as well as an older person living alone. The largest share of the German population was aged 40 to 59 years, followed by those aged 65 and older. In terms of housing situations, most were renting and more than half of the population lived in an apartment.

Decreasing household member numbers

Another spin on single household statistics in Germany is recording the average number of household members. Since the 1990s this number has been decreasing and thus far the evidence points towards this trend continuing.