I want to be alone: the rise and rise of solo living

``Numbers never tell the whole story, but in this case the statistics are startling. According to the market research firm Euromonitor International, the number of people living alone globally is skyrocketing, rising from about 153 million in 1996 to 277 million in 2011 -- a 55% increase in 15 years. In the UK, 34% of households have one person living in them and in the US it's 27% -- roughly one in every seven adults. ''