More Baby Boomers are living alone. One reason why: ‘gray divorce’

According to census data, nearly 38 million adults live alone in the United States, and that number is on the rise. Close to 16 million of those living alone are age 65 and older, three times as many people in that age group living alone as in 1960.

Several reasons for this shift include economic gains by women entering the workforce and changing attitudes towards marriage. Still, one factor fueling the rising number of seniors living alone is the increasing divorce rate among adults over 50. This has been coined “gray divorce.”

As divorce rates for the overall population have been falling, older adults are seeing higher rates. Susan Myres, a divorce attorney in Houston, Texas, has been calling the term “silver splitting.”

“Some older people initiating divorces feel they’ve simply drifted too far apart from their spouses, while some have suffered abuse or discovered shocking transgressions, Myres says. All of them – including some clients in their 80s – feel like any years of life they have left are too precious to spend with the wrong person.”

For more information see Catherine E. Shoichet “More Baby Boomers are living alone. One reason why: ‘gray divorce’” CNN Health, August 5, 2023.

Special thanks to Lewis Saret (Attorney, Washington, D.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.