2. Living alone does not necessarily mean loneliness. Many people are quite happy living alone. Through living alone, people realize that other people do not have the power to bestow or remove happiness. They also learn to face the world as a single entity, overcome fears and social conditioning, and have more choice and freedom about domestic, sexual and professional matters. Living alone is the choice of many authors, theatre people and intellectuals. Some of the world's great thinkers - including Descartes, Pascal, Spinoza, Kant, Nietzsche and Wittgenstein - never married and lived alone for the greater part of their lives.
3. People who are handicapped by health problems may be less likely to marry in the first place, and that people who are widowed tend to be older rather than younger.