Independent Perspective News

It seems that living alone is no longer confined to spinsters. According to the official figures, 23 per cent of the 3 million people living in the city (some 750 thousand people) make up what is technically called "one-person families". This mostly urban trend is followed by groups as different as youngsters who have recently gained their independence, after getting their first job, and divorced grown-ups and people who just want to feel "free". To put it in a nutshell: one out of four inhabitants of the city of Buenos Aires has their own shadow as their only company.

The difference between the Federal Capital and other great conglomerations in the interior is big. In the rest of the country, 14,7% (more than 5 million people) reside on their own. That is to say, one out of seven. These figures come from the latest Permanent Homes Survey carried out by the INDEC, and they show a cultural change: the Argentinian myth of "The Campanellis", a TV icon in the 70s that used to praise family, is becoming extinct.

(...) The main Swedish and Danish cities are topping the world chart, but Buenos Aires is not so far from them. Why is this tendency so much stronger in the city? "It's more usual in the city -says the sociologist Viviana Delía-because here there's any number of facilities that don't exist in the interior. Before, we used to think of this as a frustration, but in fact it's a life choice".

Who they are, what they do... The multitude of loners is made up by divorced and separated people, widows and widowers, and singles. "This is related to the failure of interpersonal relationships and to the fact that less and less people are getting married. This is more noticeable in times of crisis: the economical factor is one of the most important, because it triggers the need to prove that one can actually live alone", says Delía.

(...)

This lifestyle tendency also has an effect on consumers' habits. Supermarkets, for instance, have noted that new consumer's profile and many chains already offer smaller packs, as for just one person.

The trend is more visible among the middle-upper class, who, not being in charge of a whole family, spend extra money. They are usually people with an active social life, they talk on the phone a lot and when they come home, the first thing they do is turning on the TV".