Seeking single thirty-somethings

There are many single people in the age group in which family formation usually takes place. In some parts of the country there are conspicuously more single men and women than in other parts. The same is true for some municipalities.

Women

On average twelve percent of 30-34 year-old women in the Netherlands are single. The percentages are higher in North and South Holland, Utrecht and Groningen. The proportion is particularly high in North Holland,: nearly one in five women in this age group are single. Naturally the presence of large cities has an effect on the number of single women in their thirties. In Amsterdam nearly one in three women aged 30-34 lives alone. But in the cities of Groningen, Utrecht and Wageningen, too, more than a quarter are single. This would seem to indicate that higher shares of single people are related to the presence of a university, although there are hardly any students in this age group.

Women: share of singles in age group 30-34 years, 1 January 2000

Men

The distribution is similar for men, although the numbers are larger. Nearly 22 percent of all 30-34 year-old men live alone. Relatively many of them live in the west of the country and in Groningen. Amsterdam has an exceptionally high proportion of single 30-34 year-old men: 45 percent of men in this age group live alone. But the university cities of Groningen, Wageningen and Delft also have high percentages of single men: 42, 42 and 39 percent respectively. By comparison: in the town of Urk, only six percent of men aged 30-34 are single. In Urk young people often leave their parental home to get married straight away.

Jan Latten