身为单身族，不用花心思取悦另一半，更不用为孩子的吃穿发愁，他们的生活支出应该比已婚（伴侣）族要少。可是，英国最近的一项研究发现，单身族一生的生活支出要比已婚（伴侣）族多出25万英镑，而从生活中得到的欢乐却比已婚（伴侣）族少。

With no spouse¹ to entertain or children to clothe（穿衣，覆盖） and feed, those who live alone may think they got off without the most costly² responsibilities.

But bachelors（单身还，学士） and spinsters（老姑娘，未婚女人） - or 'freemales' as single women are now often called - might wish to reconsider the price of going it alone.

Those who live by themselves spend £250,000 more on basic essentials over a lifetime than those who live with a partner - and they are less happy for it, research suggests.

Almost three in ten households in the UK are formed by a single person and the number is set to rocket to 9.5 million in the next ten years.

And with no partner with whom to split the burden of bills, single people spend an average of almost £12,000 every year on expenses such as housing costs and food - around half of the £23,961 average annual income.

This is almost £5,000 more than the amount spent by those living as part of a couple.

And the study of 2,000 adults found that the cost of single life is not just financial - those in couples are happier.

Almost two thirds of those who live with a partner say they are better off（境况富裕） as a couple, whereas just one in five single people think they have the better deal.

The findings show it is increasingly difficult to sustain good quality living on a single salary, according to the price comparison service that commissioned the research.

Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at uSwitch. com, said: 'The huge increase in the number of single-person households（家庭） is not just a worry in terms of housing stock, it will also have a serious impact on lifestyle and spending.

'Increasingly, we are seeing evidence that to enjoy a good quality of life in Britain, a household needs two incomes.'