Insights
Singles in the UK: numbers by age and sex
About 23 million of the 55 million adults in the United Kingdom are single in the calculator’s sense. The page gives the split by age and sex, looks at how many people are partnered without being married, and follows a standard search down to the available singles.
The short answer
The model puts the number of single adults in the United Kingdom at about 23 million, or 42% of all adults (data year 2025): about 40% of men and 44% of women. “Single” means neither married nor in an unmarried partnership; among 18 to 29 year olds 27% are partnered without being married, which is more common than marriage (3%) in that group. For a man looking for women aged 28 to 38 about 2 million single women are available, for a woman looking for men about 2.2 million single men. The band is about ±12%.
Single adults by age group and sex
The table applies the married and the partnered share of each sex and age group to the model’s population of the United Kingdom by single year of age. 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 | 5,420,000 | 130,000 | 1,460,000 | 3,830,000 | 71% |
| Women | 5,260,000 | 211,000 | 1,420,000 | 3,630,000 | 69% | |
| 30–44 | Men | 6,740,000 | 3,130,000 | 1,090,000 | 2,510,000 | 37% |
| Women | 6,680,000 | 3,340,000 | 1,080,000 | 2,260,000 | 34% | |
| 45–59 | Men | 6,740,000 | 3,840,000 | 674,000 | 2,220,000 | 33% |
| Women | 6,950,000 | 4,030,000 | 695,000 | 2,230,000 | 32% | |
| 60+ | Men | 7,480,000 | 4,860,000 | 599,000 | 2,020,000 | 27% |
| Women | 9,450,000 | 4,730,000 | 473,000 | 4,250,000 | 45% | |
| All adults, 18+ | Men | 26,400,000 | 12,000,000 | 3,830,000 | 10,600,000 | 40% |
| Women | 28,300,000 | 12,300,000 | 3,670,000 | 12,400,000 | 44% |
The single share is 70% in the 18–29 group and 32% in the 45–59 group. In absolute numbers the 18–29 group is the largest, with about 7.5 million single adults.
Single men and single women
There are 105 single men for every 100 single women among 18 to 29 year olds and 47 among those aged 60 and over. The first age group in which women are more often single than men is 60+.
In the oldest group 27% of men and 45% of women are single. Widowhood and women’s longer lives account for most of that gap.
| Age | Single men | Single women | Men per 100 women |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18–29 | 3,830,000 | 3,630,000 | 105 |
| 30–44 | 2,510,000 | 2,260,000 | 111 |
| 45–59 | 2,220,000 | 2,230,000 | 100 |
| 60+ | 2,020,000 | 4,250,000 | 47 |
| All adults, 18+ | 10,600,000 | 12,400,000 | 86 |
Partnered without being married
Among 18 to 29 year olds 27% are in an unmarried partnership and 3% are married, so an unmarried partnership is more common than marriage in this group. Among 30 to 44 year olds the figures are 16% partnered and 48% married.
Every unmarried partnership is a person who counts as “never married” in a civil-status table but not as single here. That is why the two figures drift apart most in the age groups where partnerships without marriage are common. Single, unmarried and living alone explains the difference.
From the population to the available singles
The tables follow one standard search through the United Kingdom: everybody, the people of the sex being looked for, those aged 28 to 38, those attracted to the searcher’s gender, and finally those who are neither married nor partnered. In this standard search a woman looking for men has the larger pool (about 2.2 million available singles, against about 2 million for a man looking for women).
Of the about 4.7 million women aged 28 to 38 who are attracted to men, 57% are married or partnered; among men aged 28 to 38 who are attracted to women it is 53%.
The lines down to “aged 28–38” count all people of that sex and age before sexual orientation is taken into account. Orientation is applied in the next line, and only then are the married and the partnered removed.
| Step | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Population, all ages | 69,300,000 | – |
| Women | 35,500,000 | 51% |
| Women aged 28–38 | 4,890,000 | 14% |
| Attracted to men (orientation applied) | 4,730,000 | 97% |
| Of them married | 1,800,000 | 38% |
| Of them partnered, not married | 895,000 | 19% |
| Available singles | 2,040,000 | 43% |
| Step | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Population, all ages | 69,300,000 | – |
| Men | 33,800,000 | 49% |
| Men aged 28–38 | 4,980,000 | 15% |
| Attracted to women (orientation applied) | 4,750,000 | 95% |
| Of them married | 1,630,000 | 34% |
| Of them partnered, not married | 899,000 | 19% |
| Available singles | 2,220,000 | 47% |
Which “UK”?
The country file describes the resident population of the whole United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland. Many official series on marital status and partnerships cover only England and Wales or Great Britain, and the censuses of Scotland and Northern Ireland are run by their own offices. A published figure for “the UK” can therefore describe a different territory from the one used here.
Which definition of “single”?
In the calculator a person is single when they are neither married nor partnered, whether or not they want a relationship. Divorced, separated and widowed people without a partner are included, couples who live together are not.
The census question on legal partnership status asks something else: it distinguishes people who never married or registered a civil partnership, those who are married, in a civil partnership, separated, divorced or widowed. Cohabiting couples appear in household and family statistics instead. Neither is wrong; they answer different questions.
What the Office for National Statistics counts
The table names the main UK sources and what each one measures. We do not repeat their figures because they are revised regularly; follow the links for current values.
| Source | What it measures | Why it is not the same as “single” here |
|---|---|---|
| Office for National Statistics (ONS): population estimates | Mid-year estimates of the resident population by age and sex for the UK and its countries. | It counts residents on a reference date. Marital status is not part of the headline UK estimates. |
| ONS: census, legal partnership status | The legal status of each resident: never married or in a civil partnership, married, in a civil partnership, separated, divorced or widowed. | It describes legal status on census day, so an unmarried couple counts as never married. The census of England and Wales is run by ONS; Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own. |
| ONS: families and households in the UK | Annual estimates of family types, including couples who are married, in a civil partnership or cohabiting, and of household sizes, based on a household survey. | It sorts people by who lives together. A partner in a separate home is not visible, and it is a sample survey. |
| ONS: marriages in England and Wales | How many marriages are registered or solemnised in a year and at what ages. | It counts events in one year, not how many people are married at a given moment, and it covers England and Wales only. |
Limits of the model figures
The data file for the UK has confidence “high”, which the calculator turns into a band of about ±12% on counts of this kind. The married and partnered shares are survey based estimates by age group, not register counts.
The model uses a population of 69 million for the data year 2025. Official population figures are updated regularly and can differ because of the reference date and the territory covered. When the dataset is refreshed, this page changes with it.
The civil-status tables count all adults. A real pool is smaller: it depends on the sex you look for, your age range, orientation and every other filter.
Turn it into your own search
Choose an age range and who you are looking for: the calculator removes the married and the partnered the way this page does, applies orientation and any filter you add, and shows the funnel step by step. More on the method: how DateTruth counts.
Try it with your own numbers
Start with the standard profile for the UK, then change the age range or add filters.
A man looking for women, 28–38 A woman looking for men, 28–38