Rise of the Swofties

Friday, 15 January 2010 23:25

Middle age has never been so good for single women over fifty, or SWOFTIES as they are known as. This group of women enjoy as much of the single life as their younger counterparts, with nightclubs, single holidays and Twitter accounts.

There are 600,000 older females in Britain who fall into this category. They may be spinsters, widows or divorcees but are happy to be alone. 21 per cent of them live alone, which is an increase of five per cent over the past decade.

1,000 women took part in a survey and 17 per cent revealed they were after a new partner, with 20 per cent admitting to a very good social life. One fifth of those surveyed have a social networking account such as Facebook and Twitter.

Nearly 50 per cent of the women have learnt a new skill at the age of 50 plus, the most popular being computer courses, foreign languages, cooking and salsa dancing. Almost 25 per cent use a gym and are dieting for health reasons. 18 per cent valued as the most exciting experience as travelling abroad enjoying new cultures. 25 per cent of them were happier than at any other time in their adult lives.

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