Research Insight | "Solo Agers": A Growing Yet Underserved Demographic
The convergence of an aging population and rising singlehood has created a significant new demographic: “solo agers,” or post-retirement adults without a spouse or children—a demographic that the current marketplace is failing. Consumer systems, from tax laws and financial products to healthcare and advertising, are built on a blueprint that assumes a nuclear family, leaving solo agers to navigate later life with a map drawn for someone else.
The precarity is both financial and physical. The “singles tax”—whereby unmarried individuals pay significantly more over a lifetime in taxes and healthcare costs due to laws that privilege marriage—erodes wealth. A “grey divorcee,” for example, might face financial instability just as her health begins to decline. This financial strain is compounded by a healthcare system that often assumes a live-in caregiver, overlooking the solo ager’s need for proactive, personalized support.
A Journal of Public Policy & Marketing commentary argues this demographic represents a profound opportunity for marketers and policymakers. Brands can move from being part of the problem to a key part of the solution: Imagine a financial services company offering retirement planning specifically for one, or a healthcare provider designing preventive services for those without a family advocate. The success of a Chinese check-in app for solo agers or the AI robot “ElliQ” in the United States, which provides companionship and practical help, shows a massive, unmet demand for technologies that act as “relational proxies.”
Inclusion isn’t just ethical—it’s smart business. It’s time for marketers to help build a marketplace where everyone can age with dignity.
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What You Need to Know
- Redesign for One: Audit your products and services. Are they designed with an implicit assumption of a partner or adult children (e.g., family plans, spousal consent forms)? Innovate to create solo-friendly alternatives in finance, healthcare, and consumer goods.
- Connect Beyond the Couple: Marketing imagery and messaging often centers on couples and families. Update your visual and narrative language to respectfully and authentically represent solo agers, acknowledging their autonomy, social connections (friends, community), and specific life-stage challenges.
- Leverage Tech for Connection: Explore how digital tools and AI can act as “relational proxies,” offering companionship, safety (e.g., emergency check-ins), and tailored services that help solo agers maintain independence and age in place.
Abstract
Market inclusion remains elusive for many older adults (Arsel, Crockett, and Scott 2022). Agentic factors (e.g., identity and autonomy) limit self-expression; structural factors (e.g., stigma and marketplace structures) restrict access. Facilitating greater inclusion requires research that examines how old age intersects with other marginalized identities (Arsel, Crockett, and Scott 2022). We contribute by urging policymakers and marketers to focus on solo agers—individuals at the intersection of old age and another major demographic shift: rising singlehood. Defined as encompassing those who are not in a serious romantic relationship (including the never married, widowed, or divorced), singlehood—like old age—remains a stigmatized identity (Kislev 2024). Using an intersectional lens, we (1) conceptualize solo agers as a distinct social identity category, (2) examine how precarity characterizes their marketplace experiences, and (3) highlight public policy and marketing as power structures that can enhance their inclusion.
Daniel Peter Hampson, Bingjie Deng, and Zhiwei Luo, “Solo Aging and the Marketplace: Identity, Precarity, Power,” Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 45 (3), 242–44.