A waltz with German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer will inform you that one’s solitude is vital for self-discovery. Being alone is a necessary state for man’s progress, but permanent social desolation is unhealthy, whether for the mind, the body, or, some would argue, the spirit. Unfortunately, the 21st century has been a period of introversion on steroids: Young people are not dating, getting married, or having children. While this will lead to long-term economic consequences, it is also a tragic devolution for humanity in the East and the West.
Being Alone at Home
As teenagers, many envisioned flying the coop to live in their own bachelor apartments. No sharing the bathroom with siblings, no going to bed at 8:30, and no eating broccoli and spinach. Fortunately, as our brains develop, we eventually realize this should only be a temporary state. But an increasing number of Americans have not received the memo that it is time to grow up.
US Census Bureau data, gathered by Apollo chief economist Torsten Slok, show that 40 million Americans live alone. Twenty-nine percent of US households consist of only one person. By comparison, in 1960, it was 13% and approximately five million.
Of course, there could be many reasons for this: the cost of living, the lack of a social life, young men retreating from the toxic dating scene, and perhaps overbearing parents who arrested their children’s development. Others might not have the personality or will to live with another person. Either way, single-person households and the steady, multi-decade upward trajectory do not bode well for the future.
Where Are the Grandparents?
When millennials were everyone’s favorite generational punching bag, the public grieved the dot-com-era kids for delaying adulthood. They lived at home longer, stayed in school for several more years, and married with children well into their 30s or even 40s. Everyone’s personal circumstances differ, but a grim reality emerges: Children born today, and in the years ahead, will have little time with their grandparents.
In the United States, the average life expectancy is 78.4 years (81.1 years for women and 75.8 years for men). If Millennials and Gen Z folks are not having children until they are in their 30s or 40s, and their sons or daughters do not start their own families until the same stages of life, it is simple math that grandparents will not be in the equation.
Today, it is becoming increasingly common for children not to grow up with their grandparents around. It is also sad that many seniors today will never be grandparents. This is a morose change as grandmothers and grandfathers offer a broad array of benefits, from wisdom to emotional support. Various studies show that grandparents can positively affect children’s development, whether through fewer behavioral challenges or stronger social skills.
The two ways to ensure grandparents remain are to have children at a younger age or ensure people live longer. Current conditions indicate the latter is far likelier than the former.
Death of the Cousin
It is no secret that couples are either having no children or only one. But this is also creating a wider phenomenon: the death of the cousin. It sounds like something out of an Anton Chekhov or Leo Tolstoy story, but it is being realized across the globe.
A December 2023 paper from Taiwan found that kids around the world are growing up with fewer cousins. The study determined, for example, that a 35-year-old woman in Canada will have just five living cousins in 70 years, down from 20 in 1950.
“Family networks will age considerably, as we project a widening age gap between individuals and their kin due to lower and later fertility and longer lifespans,” researchers said. “The projected changes in kin supply will put pressure on the already stretched institutional systems of social support, as more individuals age with smaller and older family networks.”
Intensifying the cousin deficit is not out of the question. If families went from having three kids to two, each child would lose just one sibling. But the drop in cousins would be much sharper. Instead of having four aunts and uncles with three children each (12 cousins), a child would have only two aunts and uncles with two children each, giving them just four cousins.
It will likely be worse, considering that about one-quarter of US households are one-child families (half of all families in Europe consist of a single child). South Korea has the world’s lowest birth rate, so the eradication of cousins will likely be most pronounced in Seoul over the next few decades.
Everyone needs alone time to ponder, to read Diogenes, and to think about that one time you received a compliment from a cashier 25 years ago. However, being alone in perpetuity is terrible for the economy, one’s health, and humanity’s progress. The global population is expected to reach its zenith in the next couple of decades and then gradually decline.
