In fact, according to the housing statistics, there has been a steady
increase in the proportion of couples residing without children, and singleperson households have increased dramatically. Between 1970 and 1990 the
latter increased by 50 per cent and the proportion of houses solely occupied
by couples increased by more than 60 per cent. By 2000 they were
approximately one-quarter and one-fifth of all households respectively (FF J
2002:18). Many of these are couples, or widows and widowers, whose children have left home, but it is impossible to tell whether or not they are near
enough to help out. Other single-person households are young people
before marriage, and the age of marriage is steadily rising. Some are those
whose marriages have broken up, and there is also an increase in the divorce
rate and the proportion of single-parent families. Finally, there is apparently
an increase both in the number of people who choose not to marry at all and those who decide, though married, not to have children. Jolivet (1997) has some interesting personal accounts