Single-person households: a silent transformation that is reshaping local areas
Media resource
The most significant changes to local areas do not always begin with buildings. They often stem from changing lifestyles.
This is precisely what is happening today with the rise in single-person households. Long regarded as a marginal phenomenon, living alone is gradually becoming a structural reality that cuts across the whole of society.
Students, young professionals, separated parents, older people… Living alone is no longer a demographic category but a stage of life that anyone may find themselves experiencing.
According to projections, nearly 46 per cent of French households could consist of a single person by 2040 – a trend that goes far beyond the issue of housing and calls for a comprehensive review of the future of our regions.
A demographic shift with far-reaching consequences.
The rise in single-person households is driven by several underlying trends: an ageing population, longer periods of study, more frequent separations, professional mobility and a growing desire for independence. Together, these developments are profoundly changing the way we live our daily lives.
This transformation is leading not only to an automatic increase in housing needs, but also to changing expectations regarding shops, services, transport and places for socialising.
In other words, living alone does not merely change the way we live; it transforms the way we work, consume, learn, look after ourselves and forge social bonds.
Planning regions based on life courses.
For those involved in territorial development, this evolution represents a genuine paradigm shift.
The challenge is no longer simply to build more housing, but to design regions capable of supporting increasingly varied and evolving life courses.
This involves, in particular, developing:
- more flexible and adaptable housing
- shops adapted to more fragmented patterns of use
- accessible local services
- hybrid spaces that encourage social interaction and a sense of community
- spaces capable of supporting people through the different stages of life, from youth to old age
Everyday spaces thus become genuine social infrastructure, capable of meeting both functional needs and the growing need for social connection.
A forward-looking study to anticipate the regions of tomorrow.
To shed light on these changes, we are publishing a new forward-looking study focusing on the rise in single-person households and their impact on regional development.
Produced by experts at Nhood, this study explores, amongst other things:
- the key figures behind this demographic shift
- the major trends that will shape the regions of tomorrow
- the impacts on housing, shops, services and living environments
- four forward-looking scenarios to envisage possible futures
- concrete courses of action to support this change
Turning the challenge into an opportunity.
At Nhood, we firmly believe that this evolution should not be seen as a constraint, but as an opportunity to rethink our communities in a sustainable way.
Because living alone does not mean living in isolation, the urban projects of tomorrow will need to strengthen spaces for social interaction, develop local services and design places capable of evolving in line with changing uses.
Anticipating these changes today means building communities that are more inclusive, more resilient and better suited to the needs of tomorrow’s residents.
Study published in July 2026, available for download at the top of the page (French version).