Insights
Singles in Switzerland: numbers by age and sex
About 3.1 million of the 7.4 million adults in Switzerland are single in the sense the calculator uses. Here is the table by age and sex, the definition behind it and what the official sources count.
The short answer
The model puts the number of single adults in Switzerland at about 3.1 million, which is 42% of all adults (data year 2025): about 40% of men and 44% of women. “Single” means neither married nor in an unmarried partnership. It is an estimate, not an official count; for a country with “high” data confidence the calculator assumes a band of about ±12% on counts like these.
Single adults by age group and sex
The table starts from the model’s single-year population of Switzerland and applies the married and the partnered shares of each sex and age group. What remains is “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 | 623,000 | 14,900 | 137,000 | 471,000 | 76% |
| Women | 623,000 | 24,900 | 137,000 | 461,000 | 74% | |
| 30–44 | Men | 873,000 | 422,000 | 115,000 | 336,000 | 38% |
| Women | 891,000 | 463,000 | 118,000 | 310,000 | 35% | |
| 45–59 | Men | 994,000 | 616,000 | 59,600 | 318,000 | 32% |
| Women | 1,060,000 | 666,000 | 63,500 | 328,000 | 31% | |
| 60+ | Men | 1,040,000 | 715,000 | 51,800 | 269,000 | 26% |
| Women | 1,340,000 | 668,000 | 53,400 | 614,000 | 46% | |
| All adults, 18+ | Men | 3,530,000 | 1,770,000 | 364,000 | 1,390,000 | 40% |
| Women | 3,910,000 | 1,820,000 | 371,000 | 1,710,000 | 44% |
The single share is highest in the 18–29 group (75%) and lowest in the 45–59 group (31%). In absolute numbers the largest group is 18–29, with about 932,000 single adults.
Are there more single men or single women?
Among 18 to 29 year olds the model has 102 single men for every 100 single women; among those aged 60 and over the figure is 44. Differences between the sexes in the older groups come mostly from women living longer and from widowhood.
These ratios count all adults regardless of sexual orientation. Whom you can realistically meet depends on your age range and on orientation, which the calculator applies.
| Age | Single men | Single women | Men per 100 women |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18–29 | 471,000 | 461,000 | 102 |
| 30–44 | 336,000 | 310,000 | 108 |
| 45–59 | 318,000 | 328,000 | 97 |
| 60+ | 269,000 | 614,000 | 44 |
| All adults, 18+ | 1,390,000 | 1,710,000 | 81 |
What “single” means here
In the calculator and in every table on this page a person is single when they are neither married nor in an unmarried partnership (a couple who live together or are exclusively together). Divorced and widowed people without a partner are single. People count as single whether or not they are looking for a relationship.
That is not the same as the civil status “ledig” (never married), which includes unmarried couples, and not the same as living alone. Single, unmarried and living alone sets the concepts side by side.
What the official sources measure
Official statistics answer different questions from the calculator. The table names the main Swiss sources and what each one measures. We do not quote their figures here, because the values are revised every year; follow the links for the current numbers.
| Source | What it measures | Why it is not the same as “single” here |
|---|---|---|
| Federal Statistical Office (FSO/BFS): resident population statistics | How many people live in Switzerland, by age, sex and civil status, based on the registers of residents. | It counts the permanent resident population on a reference date. The calculator uses a rounded population input for the data year shown on this page. |
| FSO/BFS: civil status (Zivilstand) | The legal status of each resident, for example never married (“ledig”), married, widowed or divorced. | It says nothing about relationships outside marriage, so an unmarried couple counts as “ledig”. |
| FSO/BFS: household types (Haushaltstypen) | How people live: alone, as a couple, with children or in other households. | Living alone is a housing fact. A person in a relationship who keeps their own flat lives alone, and a single person in a shared flat does not. |
| Swiss Household Panel (FORS) | A long-running survey that follows the same households over time and asks about living situation and relationships. | A survey can ask about partnerships independent of marriage or shared homes, but it covers a sample, not everybody. |
How reliable are these figures?
The country file for Switzerland carries data confidence “high”, which the calculator translates into a band of about ±12% on counts of this kind. The married and partnered shares are survey based estimates in the country file, not register data.
The model uses a population of 9.1 million for the data year 2025. The official resident population is updated every year and can differ, because of the reference date and because definitions differ (for example who counts as a resident). When the dataset is refreshed, the tables on this page change with it.
The tables count the whole adult population. A real dating pool is smaller: it depends on the sex you look for, your age range, orientation and every other filter you add.
From the table to your own search
The calculator starts from this same model. Choose your age range and who you are looking for, and it removes the married and partnered people the way the table does, then applies sexual orientation and any filter you add. The buttons below open it with a typical search for Switzerland. More on the method: how DateTruth counts.
Try it with your own numbers
Start with a typical profile for Switzerland, then change the age range or add filters.
A man looking for women, 28–38 A woman looking for men, 28–38