Economist Podcasts: "Home Alone: The Relationship Recession"

Date: November 11, 2025
Host: Jason Palmer
Guests: Jonathan Rosenthal (Editor, International section), Su Lin Wong (Asia Correspondent), Josh Spencer (Asian News Editor), Callum Williams (Senior Economics Writer)

Episode Overview

This episode of The Intelligence confronts a growing, multifaceted social shift: a “relationship recession” characterized by increasing singleness, diminishing marriage rates, and rising loneliness, especially among the young and educated in developed countries. The hosts and correspondents delve into the complex causes driving these changes—including economic empowerment, technology, shifting gender roles, and evolving attitudes toward dating—and examine the rapid emergence of artificial intelligence as a source of companionship. The episode closes with a separate segment on the counterintuitive resilience of the tobacco industry, but the core theme remains the growing challenge of human connection in a digitalized and transformed world.

Key Discussion Points

1. The Relationship Recession: Facts and Causes

(01:06–08:35)

• A Demographic Shift:

  • Jonathan Rosenthal: "41% of women and 50% of men between the ages of 25 and 34 were single in 2023. And the really surprising thing about that is that rate has doubled over the past five decades." (02:44)
  • Su Lin Wong: This change is mirrored worldwide; "in 26 of 30 countries, more and more people were living alone" between 2010 and 2022 (03:01).

• Underlying Causes:

  • Structural Factors: Longer-running economic changes (04:00)
  • Pandemic Effects: The COVID-19 pandemic “accelerated” the trend by halting formative dating opportunities and eroding social skills (03:38).
    • "Dating is not like riding a bicycle… If you stop dating for two years… you've kind of lost a lot of those just basic dating skills." (Jonathan Rosenthal, 03:55)
  • Tech and Screen Time: Greater time spent online, less in-person socializing, and changing patterns of meeting partners—historically through friends, now less so (04:29–04:53).

• Dating Apps & Changing Preferences:

  • Apps reshape "who marries whom" by enabling precise filtering on details like height and politics, often narrowing the eligible pool:
    • Jonathan Rosenthal: "[On] Bumble… most women on that app put in a minimum height requirement of 6ft tall, and that at a stroke, wipes out 85% of the potentially eligible male population." (05:19)
  • Sociological Effects: While overall singlehood is rising for both genders, specific groups stand out: lower-educated men (especially rural/migrant) and highly educated women, particularly in Asia (06:02).

2. Social Implications and Emotional Realities

(07:46–11:33)

• Single by Choice vs. Involuntarily Single:

  • A significant majority of singles—"roughly 60 to 70%"—would prefer to be in a relationship, indicating that for many, singleness is involuntary and painful (Su Lin Wong, 07:46).
    • Memorable exchange:
      • Jason Palmer: "That does sound like a tremendous number of people who are not just alone, but lonely." (08:35)
      • Jonathan Rosenthal: "...they split very clearly between people who describe themselves as voluntarily single... far happier than people who describe themselves as involuntarily single." (08:57)

• The 'Incels' and Gendered Responses:

  • The rise in involuntary celibates ("incels")—angry, often isolated men with strong online communities—manifests as a global phenomenon, including in South Korea.
    • "Men… can either get with the program and become more egalitarian, or… some subsets of men go the opposite way, say feminism is a challenge to our masculinity." (Jonathan Rosenthal, 10:04)
  • Backlash and new movements: Women in some Asian societies are responding with “no dating, no marriage, no sex, no babies” campaigns (10:34).

• Gender Role Transformation:

  • The conversation stresses the need for society to reconceptualize masculinity alongside evolving definitions of womanhood.
    • Su Lin Wong: "How do we redefine masculinity in a really positive way, in parallel to the way we've been able to redefine what it means to be a woman?" (10:34)

3. Broader Structural Outcomes

(11:33–12:47)

• Demographic and Economic Implications:
  • More single-person households drive demand for different housing, strain fertility rates, and consequently, could shape future government spending and policies (11:49).
  • Even the most egalitarian societies (e.g., Scandinavia), which were expected to hit an equilibrium, continue to witness rising singlehood.
    • “Demographers are sort of back to the drawing books…” (Jonathan Rosenthal, 12:47)

4. AI Companions: The New Frontier of Relationships

(12:56–21:36)

• Rise of AI Companions:

  • Correspondent Josh Spencer visits with "Daisy," a humanoid robot in Singapore designed for elder care, noting the rapid global uptake of both virtual and physical AI “companions” (13:25).

• Adoption and Reach:

  • A single AI companionship app, Character AI, boasts 20 million monthly active users; 42% of surveyed US high schoolers have interacted with an AI friend (14:52).

• Customization and Experience:

  • Users mold AI to their needs, from customized ChatGPT personalities to pre-set “lover” companions in apps—sometimes even in flirtatious or erotic forms (15:33–16:53).

• Benefits:

  • Evidence (Harvard Business School study) suggests AI companions can temporarily reduce feelings of loneliness—especially for the socially isolated, disabled, or elderly (16:59).

• Risks and Concerns:

  • Potential negative consequences include:
    • Social withdrawal: Users could retreat from real relationships as AI companions’ emotional realism increases.
    • Unrealistic expectations: Sycophantic AI may distort young or vulnerable users’ views of relationships.
    • Mental health: There have been lawsuits after young people in distress turned to AI companions before suicide.
    • Volatility: AI updates can abruptly change a “companion’s” personality, with traumatizing effects for users (18:07–20:10).

• Regulatory and Societal Questions:

  • While tech companies are instituting age barriers and parental controls, enforcement can be evaded. Expansion continues into hardware (robots, toys), raising issues of privacy, dependency, and “human agency” (20:18–21:36).

    • Josh Spencer: "It’s basically a massive experiment on the human population… and we really don’t know exactly how this is going to affect people." (20:18)

5. Memorable Quotes and Moments

• On technological curation in dating:

  • "When you've got an app that you can use like your music playlist and curate, you start sticking in all kinds of other criteria..." – Jonathan Rosenthal (05:00)

• On involuntary singlehood:

  • "They've either given up hope, they find online dating so depressing, they're full of despair, or they think they're too old, or they genuinely just haven't met the right person." – Su Lin Wong (07:59)

• On AI companionship and risks:

  • "Heavy users of [AI companionship apps] also reported higher feelings of loneliness… withdrawing from the social world could be a problem." – Josh Spencer (18:12)

6. Cigarette Industry Resilience (Brief Segment)

(22:30–25:31)

Though not part of the main relationship theme, a brief final segment (with Callum Williams) explores why US tobacco companies remain profitable even as smoking continues to decline:

• As casual smokers quit, remaining customers are more “price inelastic,” allowing companies to increase prices and offset volume declines.

  • "Price mix more than offset volume decline." – Reported from an industry earnings call (24:18)

• The model has limits—eventually, prices can't rise forever and alternatives will displace cigarettes—but for now, the industry prospers.

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Timestamps | |---------------------------------------------|-----------------| | Main singleness trend & pandemic impact | 01:06–04:53 | | Dating apps and narrowing preferences | 04:53–06:02 | | Gendered breakdowns, emancipation | 06:02–07:39 | | Emotional impact, volitional singlehood | 07:46–09:19 | | Incels and gender backlash | 09:19–10:34 | | Redefining masculinity | 10:34–11:33 | | Broader demographic impacts | 11:33–12:47 | | AI companions introduction | 12:56–14:09 | | AI adoption, application | 14:09–16:53 | | Benefits and research on AI companionship | 16:59–18:07 | | Risks and volatility of AI | 18:07–20:10 | | Societal implications and regulation | 20:18–21:36 | | Tobacco industry segment | 22:30–25:31 |

Conclusion

This episode paints a nuanced portrait of “generation single,” balancing the newfound freedoms of modern relationship patterns with the stubborn persistence of loneliness and the emergence of substitutes like artificial intelligence. The societal conversation is ongoing—about what it means to be fulfilled, connected, and human in a world where both economic and technological forces have loosened the old bonds, but new ones may not readily take their place.