Insights
Singles in Germany: numbers and definitions
About 28 million of the 69 million adults in Germany are single in the calculator’s sense. The table below gives the split by age and sex; the sections after it explain why official German statistics never produce the same figure.
The short answer
The model puts the number of single adults in Germany at about 28 million, or 41% of all adults (data year 2025): about 38% of men and 44% of women. “Single” means neither married nor in an unmarried partnership. Official German statistics use other definitions (marital status, forms of living, household type), so their “singles” are a different, though overlapping, group. Treat our figure as an estimate with a band of about ±12%.
Single adults by age group and sex
The table combines the model’s population of Germany by single year of age with the married and partnered shares of each sex and age group. Everyone who is neither is counted as single.
The table counts all adults before sexual orientation is taken into account. It shows who is neither married nor partnered, not whom a particular search would reach.
| Age | Sex | Adults | Married | Partnered, not married | Single | Single share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18–29 | Men | 5,400,000 | 194,000 | 972,000 | 4,230,000 | 78% |
| Women | 5,190,000 | 312,000 | 935,000 | 3,950,000 | 76% | |
| 30–44 | Men | 7,910,000 | 4,040,000 | 854,000 | 3,010,000 | 38% |
| Women | 7,760,000 | 4,270,000 | 838,000 | 2,650,000 | 34% | |
| 45–59 | Men | 9,720,000 | 6,130,000 | 681,000 | 2,920,000 | 30% |
| Women | 9,950,000 | 6,270,000 | 697,000 | 2,990,000 | 30% | |
| 60+ | Men | 10,400,000 | 7,200,000 | 626,000 | 2,610,000 | 25% |
| Women | 13,000,000 | 6,370,000 | 520,000 | 6,110,000 | 47% | |
| All adults, 18+ | Men | 33,500,000 | 17,600,000 | 3,130,000 | 12,800,000 | 38% |
| Women | 35,900,000 | 17,200,000 | 2,990,000 | 15,700,000 | 44% |
The single share is highest in the 18–29 group (77%) and lowest in the 45–59 group (30%). The largest group in absolute terms is 60+, with about 8.7 million single adults.
Single men and single women
In the model there are 107 single men for every 100 single women among 18 to 29 year olds, and 43 among those aged 60 and over. In the oldest group, widowhood and women’s longer lives dominate the picture.
| Age | Single men | Single women | Men per 100 women |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18–29 | 4,230,000 | 3,950,000 | 107 |
| 30–44 | 3,010,000 | 2,650,000 | 113 |
| 45–59 | 2,920,000 | 2,990,000 | 98 |
| 60+ | 2,610,000 | 6,110,000 | 43 |
| All adults, 18+ | 12,800,000 | 15,700,000 | 81 |
Which definition of “single”?
Here, a person is single when they are neither married nor partnered, whether or not they want a relationship. Divorced and widowed people without a partner are included; couples who live together without marrying are not.
German official statistics offer at least three other readings. The legal family status (“Familienstand”) distinguishes never married, married, widowed, divorced and registered civil partnership. The “forms of living” concept of the Mikrozensus describes who lives together in one household, and a household of one person is something else again. All three are legitimate, and none of them is “single” in the everyday sense. The comparison of the concepts has the details.
What Destatis and the census count
The table names the main German sources and what each one measures. We do not repeat their figures: they are revised with every release, and the 2022 census moved the population base for many series. Follow the links for the current values.
| Source | What it measures | Why it is not the same as “single” here |
|---|---|---|
| Federal Statistical Office (Destatis): population statistics | The official population by age, sex and family status, updated between censuses and re-based on census results. | It counts residents on a reference date by legal family status, not whether they have a partner. |
| Census 2022 (Zensus 2022) | A register based census with a reference date in May 2022, supplemented by a household sample survey. | It is a snapshot of one date. The calculator’s data year is the year of the model inputs, not a census date. |
| Destatis: Mikrozensus (forms of living and family status) | The annual household sample survey. Its “forms of living” concept classifies people by who lives together in one household: couples, single parents, people living without partner or children in the household. | A partner who lives in a separate home generally cannot be recognised from household data, and the survey sorts people by household situation, not by whether they are looking. |
| Destatis: households and living alone | The number and size of households, including one-person households. | Living alone is a housing fact. It includes people in relationships who keep their own flat and excludes single people who share one. |
Limits of the model figures
The data file for Germany has confidence “high”, which translates into a band of about ±12% on counts like these. The married and partnered shares are survey based estimates by age group, not register counts.
The model uses a population of 84 million for the data year 2025. Official population figures are updated regularly and can differ for the reasons above. Whenever the dataset is refreshed, this page updates with it.
And the whole table is about all adults. Your actual pool is smaller: it depends on the sex you look for, your age range, orientation and every further filter.
Turn it into your own search
Pick an age range and who you are looking for: the calculator removes the married and partnered the way this page does, applies orientation and any filter you add, and shows the funnel step by step. Background on the method: how DateTruth counts.
Try it with your own numbers
Start with a typical profile for Germany, then change the age range or add filters.
A man looking for women, 28–38 A woman looking for men, 28–38