Rise of the freemale

Single women hit all-time high

The number of single women has hit an all-time high as girls everywhere choose time and money over men.

According to the latest stats, 8% of women aged between 25 and 44 now live alone - that's around 690,000 of us, and double the number of 20 years ago.

Dubbed the 'freemale', two-thirds of these single gals says they're happy without a man beside them in bed every night.

With celebrities like Kylie Minogue and Cameron Diaz pioneering the trend, sociologists say single living could be the biggest social trend of the coming decades, with some forecasters claiming single-person homes could account for up to 70% of the growth in households by 2026.

'There's a cynicism about the benefits of long-term relationships because people have seen lots of them break down,' Paula Hal from Relate tells the Daily Mail.

'If you're busy and fulfilled with lots of close friends, then relationships may seem a bit irrelevant, emotionally high-risk and a lot of hard work. There is also less of an economic need for women to be in relationships than there used to be.

'There is also less of a stigma about not having children. Now, these women call themselves childfree rather than childless.

'Basically, women feel comfortable doing whatever they want to do with their lives.'