2026 relationship goal: Stay single?

Across the world, the number of single people is growing, and more people are talking about the benefits of single life. Chloe Vo is one of them. Four years ago, when I ended my long-term relationship, I had no idea how different my life would look today. I love my own company. Vo is a full-time content creator and works mostly out of her condo in Toronto. A lot of her work is focused on why she's choosing to stay out of a relationship. When I decided to give dating a break and just focus on myself and realise the peace and calm that I feel when I'm single, I felt the need to share this experience with other women because it really felt like I found the key to happiness. I think it's definitely a growing trend. It's definitely becoming more common to talk about and we're just relating. And really, to me, when I meet another woman who is on the same path as me, I feel like a sigh of relief. And Vo is part of the growing group of single people. At The Economist, we calculated that over the past decade, the number of single people around the world has risen by at least 100 million, which is just huge. The Economist says the rise of singlehood is reshaping the world and the Financial Times has called this moment a relationship recession. Plus, as singlehood increases, the interest behind why it's happening is also on the rise. We've looked at who are the different types of single people. There is a certain percentage of people who they don't really want a relationship that much. They get their social connection from their friends and their family. They're invested in their work, that kind of thing. That's Jeff McDonald. He's the head of the McDonald Lab at the University of Toronto that specifically studies singlehood and the well-being of single people. But we don't want to lose sight of the fact that most people want a romantic relationship. What is the level of well-being in their life? And again, it falls into different categories. My take on what's happening is just the norms around what it means to be single, what it means to be partnered are changing very rapidly. Now, looking at the factors, being single is not a perfect science. There's a lot of reasons to explain what's going on here. I think there's kind of a lot of freedom on what kind of path you take as you grow up and people are taking less traditional kind of paths. You're not labelled a spinster if you're single at 30 or whatever it is. And it becomes a little bit more enjoyable when you're not being pressured to seek someone out. I'm neutral, I guess. I would like to be in one. So while there are many factors as to why people aren't getting into relationships, both McDonald and Wong say the data suggests that people still want to find partners. But it's the goals in dating and the purpose of getting into a relationship that might be changing. And caveat, that's data based on heterosexual relationships. One factor both experts agreed on is the changing lives of women. When I first started doing singlehood research, it was a really tough sell to get graduate students who were interested in it. Now I have graduate students spontaneously emailing me who want to crack the code on whether it's embarrassing to have a boyfriend or not, right? And that comment there, is it embarrassing to have a boyfriend, is a nod to this Vogue article from last fall. It went viral. There was a lot of response. I think for men, this is a wake up call. Women are finally waking up to the idea that having a boyfriend is basically the least interesting thing about you. Don't let the miserable people of the internet tell you that it's embarrassing to have a boyfriend. So there's more women in the developed world with university degrees than men. And so there are similar dynamics in terms of women being more financially independent and perhaps wanting to focus on their careers rather than settle for a man that they're perhaps not that into. But broadly speaking, we still see a very, very strong cultural norm of women not wanting to marry down. Oh boy. Wong says even music is reflecting some of the dynamics of single women. Perhaps the sort of most iconic song of this genre would be Manchild by Sabrina Carpenter. But I think there is something in popular culture right now that is really examining this feeling among this certain group of women. And that is connected partially to the explosion of single people. It's not, I don't think it describes the full demographic of single people, but I think it describes one subset of them. And at McDonald's Lab, they are working on a new study that looks specifically at the goals of men and women who want to get into relationships. What the data suggests to us is that, you know, women understand that they're in a position where they can afford to wait and they can afford to choose. And so, you know, the kinds of goals that they talk about are things like, I don't want to lose my independence when I get in a relationship. With men, they kind of seem to fall into two different categories. And we sort of interpret the data as suggesting that men who are interested in dating women get that the bar is higher. And so some of the men seem to be responding to that with, you know, goals that suggest that they're trying to up their game. But then there's another group of men in that study who say that their goal is that they have no relationship goals, right? And so we suspect that this might also be a response to this sense of the bar is higher, that some men are just feeling like, yeah, with the bar that high, it's kind of not even worth my time. Justin Frost is single and says dating has become more complicated. I guess, do you feel that the bar is higher now? Absolutely. I think there's a lot more expectations. They put like a dark cloud over the dating scene that makes it almost, for me at least, almost not worth it in a sense sometimes. You have this hesitation. It's like, OK, well, why put myself out there if all people are going to expect from you is being a multimillionaire with a Bentley, right? When for my goals was to find that person who has those common interests and can share that life, that expectation of you have to be here, you have to meet this expectation, you have to hit this bar. But despite those expectations, he's still hopeful he'll find a partner. Yes, I want to lead my pack, but I also need a good support system too. As human beings, we can do well on our own, but I mean, you know, it takes a village and that village starts somewhere. So I think it's become a lot more of an individual effort as opposed to a team effort. I think that's where that gap really lies in relationships nowadays. So it sounds like that gap between what men and women want is getting bigger. Does any of that worry you? You know, I think sometimes there's this idea that like, you know, men don't really care about love. You know, men in many ways actually prioritise romantic relationships more than women do. Problem is, is what's the solution? Like, we're obviously not going to mandate that women date men. And so, you know, like, yeah, I'm worried about it, but, you know, I worry more about what some people think the solution is, right? So if more people are choosing to stay single, what are the possible economic impacts of all of this? What does that mean for the kinds of houses we build, the kinds of apartments we build, if there are more and more people living alone, to how will that affect taxes and how tax is collected if you live in a country where, you know, there's different tax regimes for marrying people or families. And then that will have consequences for generations because what happens when this generation single ages and will need perhaps more aged care facilities? Plus, there's a big question of falling fertility rates. In 2024, Canada became part of the countries with ultra low fertility, with a total fertility rate of 1.25 children per woman. And the government of Canada has looked into the impact of low fertility, which they say could lead to a decline of national GDP. There's definitely some people whose specific focus is advocating at the policy level for changes that would benefit single people, like changes to, you know, tax structures and stuff like that. I don't think that they're highly visible at this point, but there is absolutely a push being made to make changes on the policy level. It seems clear that the world of relationships is changing. But for Chloe Bo, this isn't a problem that needs a solution. I guess I do have to ask this. Would you ever consider going into a relationship? I feel like that question doesn't cross my mind anymore because I really just try to stay grounded in the present. I really, I love my life. I wake up every day feeling at peace. I feel like taking my energy that I maybe would have put into a relationship or into dating and investing that back into me has been so rewarding.