Single consumers in China spent more than a billion dollars (EUR 866 billion) in 2025, plus 50% more than two years earlier, driving a growing “economy of loneliness”, says a report released today.
© Reuters
14/09/2026
by
Lusa
O document, authored by Y. Tony Yang, professor at George Washington University in the United States, points out, however, that the phenomenon must be understood not only as a new consumer market, but as a result of the breakdown of functions traditionally provided by families.
For much of modern history, families shared expenses such as housing and food, as well as ensuring care for children and the elderly, company and protection from unforeseen events, the author notes.
“ Throughout East Asia, this model is losing weight, making more and more people resort to paid services to meet needs previously secured within the family,” Yang writes.
In China, the 2020 census accounted for 125 million people living alone, equivalent to one in four families, while similar trends are observed in other countries in the region. In South Korea, 36% of households are made up of only one person, while in Japan the proportion is expected to reach 44% by 2050.
According to data from the Chinese research company Discovery Reports, cited by the author, Chinese singles spending exceeded a billion dollars (866 billion euros) in 2025, increasing by about 50% in just two years.
Yang considers, however, that part of this growth does not necessarily represent new economic activity, but “transformation into commercial transactions of previously performed functions within the household”.
When a family prepares a meal at home, for example, this activity is not accounted for in the gross domestic product (GDP), but when someone living alone orders an individual meal or pays for entertainment or company, these same needs arise in economic statistics.
The author also warns that part of the expenses associated with the so-called “economy of loneliness” does not correspond to discretionary consumption, but to costs that those living alone cannot share, including income, electricity or household appliances.
The trend is also creating products and services in China, from meals for a person to applications to check the welfare of those living alone.
A Chinese application whose name can be translated as “Are you dead?” came first among the paid applications in the country in January. The service alerts an emergency contact if the user fails two consecutive daily checks.
For Yang, it is “a substitute paid for a task that, until recently, did not need a product”.
The report also highlights the growth of artificial intelligence-based company services (IA) at a time when Beijing began to regulate this market.
New Chinese rules for “anthropomorphic” AI services, which have been in force since July 15, prohibit virtual romantic relations with minors, require consent from those in charge of education for users under the age of 14 and oblige companies to intervene in the face of signs of self-mutilation or excessive emotional dependence, according to the document.
Yang argues that the growth of single-person families will also force governments to rethink health and social assistance systems still built around the existence of spouses, children or other families capable of providing care.
“ The economy of loneliness is three things at the same time: a real market, a statistical artifact and a loss of efficiency ", summarizes.
The academic considers Asia a “pilot” for a transformation that should subsequently spread to other regions of the world as the number of people living alone increases.