We see this statement brought up a lot, “single older women are the happiest demographic” - however, is that particularly true?

single older women are also the highest users of anti-depressants, they tend to spend the most out of any demographic in consumerist goods and you see the usual video of a single older woman cracking. It also doesn’t help that most advice given to younger women from these women amounts to discouragement towards children, a fulfilling partnership, etc

Of course, being single long term is still a lot better than being in a bad marriage, and I think that’s worth separating here as sadly, it is relatively easy to get into a bad marriage - ie. we don’t do enough research on what a good marriage looks like vs what a bad marriage looks like, and many marriages are pretty bad, whether it be the fault of one partner or both. Of course, the obvious question is how do we determine a good or bad marriage from a pure statistical standpoint, but that’s a question for another day.

To add to this, most happiness statistics don’t account for emotional fulfillment or long term happiness - most rely on short term metrics without a regard for whether this short term happiness is even sustainable.

Of course, i know where this conversation will lead - and no, of course, there will be some women who will stay happier single long term, and as i said, staying single is better than a bad marriage, so this is not a call for a woman to lower her standard and settle.