Hong Kong —
Rachel Xia has grown quite used to flying solo in the decade since leaving her hometown of Luoyang in central China.
The 30-year-old Hong Kong resident has no qualms about eating alone, traveling alone and going to the movies alone. In fact, Xia has discovered almost everything in the bustling city can be arranged for one.
Groceries and meals for one are delivered straight to her door. Her late ragdoll cat Mocha was a steadfast emotional companion, waking her in the mornings and greeting her when she came home from work. If she wanted to get something off her chest, she could also turn to AI chatbots.
“It’s super convenient right now for people to live alone,” she said. “Most things I can think of, I’ve had the experience of doing on my own.”
Xia is part of a growing cohort fast reshaping the profile of the Asian consumer: people who are single, childless or otherwise living alone.
The traditional metrics of success in many Asian nations – marriage, children and home ownership – have lost their appeal among younger generations, as costs of housing and education have risen and social expectations have changed.
Across the region, birth rates are falling to record lows. Governments are dangling cash and subsidies to encourage couples to have children to shore up future workforces, with little success.
However, the problem comes with an economic silver lining: even as populations shrink, consumers living alone are spending more on themselves.
The rise of single-person households in countries like Japan, South Korea and China is creating what’s been dubbed the “loneliness economy” or “solo economy.”
Instead of buying diapers or bulk groceries, individuals are splurging on pets, collectible toys and new experiences. Businesses have noticed, and are cashing in by helping them build a world for one.
“They have really high fixed costs. They don’t have a partner or other family members to share this,” said Ming-Hsuan Lee, a professor at the National Sun Yat-sen University in Taiwan, who has researched spending patterns of single consumers in Asia.
“But on the other hand, we find single people like to invest in themselves. They show higher expenditures in travel and dining out, and personal improvement, like education or leisure.”
While doing things alone often means paying more, Xia enjoys the freedom to follow her own schedule and preferences.
It wasn’t until her cat died last year that she began to question whether she could remain single forever.
“It made me question more about what kind of life I’m looking for,” she said. “Am I really okay to live this isolated kind of life for the rest of my life?”
In China, which recently lost its title as the world’s most populous nation to India, the solo economy is thriving.
Miniature karaoke kiosks the size of old-school phone booths have popped up around the country to cater to lone crooners. Single travelers can hire hiking partners, sightseeing companions or personal photographers at tourist destinations.
Chinese research firm Discovery Reports estimates the singles economy reached more than $1 trillion in China in 2025, an increase of about 50% when compared with 2023.
Consumer analysts say singles are also spending more on video games, AI companions and micro-dramas, soap opera-like shows with episodes under two minutes.
“When you’re back home from work and it’s 10 p.m. and you’ve already eaten, if you had a husband or wife, you would talk to them,” said Ashley Dudarenok, founder of China market consultancy ChoZan.
“If that companionship is missing, you are left with subscriptions to games, to streaming, and that is a huge, huge trend that is reshaping the way people entertain themselves.”
Dudarenok said that China’s vast and competitive consumer market could accelerate the development of products and services for people living alone and eventually export them to the rest of the world.
AI companions and micro-dramas have already gained traction in the US. Companies there are also increasingly courting solo diners. Domino’s Pizza announced recently it would begin offering small rectangular pies designed for one.
Previously, businesses and governments typically treated singledom as a temporary stage before marriage, Dudarenok points out.
“We need to start thinking about single living and this new economic model as something that is here to stay,” she said.
Rather than marketing to lonely souls, brands have chosen to emphasize independence over isolation.
“There’s a lot of messaging about empowerment and individuality,” said Allison Malmsten, marketing director at Daxue Consulting, a China-focused research firm.
“That is more likely to resonate with consumers, because they don’t want to see themselves as lonely. They see themselves as still being very social and having very fulfilling life experiences.”
Still, concerns are mounting in the region over the effects of loneliness on people’s health. Both Japan and South Korea have struggled to tackle their comparatively high suicide rates across generations, sparking soul-searching, debate and policies.
In Seoul, authorities have allocated millions of dollars to provide counseling, social activities and other services to alleviate alienation. In 2021, Japan appointed a Minister of Loneliness and Isolation to address the impact on people’s mental health.
For some, pets have become a way to fill an emotional void.
Singles are increasingly traveling with their pets or buying them luxury gifts, said Malmsten. In 2017, Chinese households had twice as many toddlers as pets, she added, but by 2030 that ratio is expected to reverse.
Ellen Xie, a 35-year-old live comedy producer, said her lifestyle as a single “cat lady” is commonplace among her circle in Shanghai. Nearly all her single friends have cats, she said, and one has a dog. None like to cook, so when they catch up, they order their own meals and ponder what their lives will look like as they grow older.
Some still want to get married; others don’t. For now, Xie is content with her two cats. Being unattached also makes it easier to take impromptu trips, like when she flew to Japan on a whim in May.
“Sometimes I go to a new country or a new place, and I would just say, wow, I’m glad I’m not married,” she said. “Those kinds of experiences are kind of special and also can maybe only be done when I’m single.”
Xie and her friends do harbor some reservations about retirement, given another consequence of the demographic change: the growing number of elderly could outnumber younger populations in the coming decades.
Chinese state media estimates the country’s “silver economy,” or products and services for senior citizens, will reach more than $4 trillion by 2035 as the market tailors new technology to accompany and care for older generations. A daily check-in app for people living alone went viral earlier this year, in part for its bleak name: “Are You Dead?”
Traditionally, multiple generations of Chinese families have lived together, and part of the motivation for having children has been to ensure elders are cared for in old age. But Xie trusts that in the future, “old ladies” like her will have more options to cohabitate and live economically.
“We can maybe form temporary families together,” she said. “Because of demand, as long as our population grows bigger, some company will want to make money out of this.”
Xiao Hanyu, a graduate student in the southern city of Shenzhen, is still afraid of growing old alone. But he said new services and technology have enabled him to stay single for longer than he might have otherwise.
An abundance of youth hostels allow him to travel affordably by himself and single-player games fill the hours between his studies. In the past three months, he’s begun sharing late-night musings with his AI assistant.
Thanks to the solo economy, the 26-year-old feels he can be more selective in choosing the ideal companion.
“If I didn’t have the conveniences of modern-day life to fulfill my needs, would I be more determined to find a partner to fulfill them?” said Xiao, who has been single for eight years.
“I think so.”
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