{"id":250655,"date":"2026-01-25T05:16:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T05:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/250655\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T05:16:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T05:16:07","slug":"from-solo-dining-to-safety-apps-chinas-loneliness-economy-is-booming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/250655\/","title":{"rendered":"From solo dining to safety apps, China\u2019s \u2018loneliness economy\u2019 is booming"},"content":{"rendered":"<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">As the number of people living alone in China skyrockets, a wave of products and services is emerging to address the safety, social and mental health needs of the country\u2019s solo-living population, analysts said.<\/p>\n<p>The issue was thrust into the public spotlight earlier this month, when a check-in app called Are You Dead? \u2013 or Sileme in Chinese \u2013 briefly <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/people-culture\/trending-china\/article\/3339701\/china-dead-or-alive-app-allows-solo-users-check-daily-alerts-contacts-if-they-miss-it?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">surged to the top of paid app charts<\/a> in mainland China and several other markets, revealing the scale of China\u2019s vast and rapidly expanding solo economy.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The app \u2013 which has since been removed from Apple\u2019s AppStore in mainland China, but remains available elsewhere under its global brand name, Demumu \u2013 asks users to confirm their safety by tapping a button. If they fail to do so for over 48 hours, it sends an alert to a designated emergency contact.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond a viral debate about its provocative name, the popularity of Are You Dead? has underscored a deeper structural shift in Chinese society: millions more people <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/china\/society\/article\/3102238\/chinese-singles-learning-love-solo-lifestyle?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">are living by themselves<\/a>, often far from family networks, in an environment marked by economic pressure and weakening social ties.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">For analysts, the app\u2019s significance ultimately lies in how it revealed the scale of that market, which has long been underserved.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cThis is a manifestation of collective loneliness turning into structural demand,\u201d said Zhao Zhijiang, a researcher at the Beijing-based think tank Anbound. \u201cBoth the public and the market are confronting the loneliness-related safety risks that may sound niche, but are increasingly real.\u201d<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Nearly 20 per cent of China\u2019s population were living in a single-person household in 2024, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. By the end of the decade, that figure will have climbed to more than 30 per cent \u2013 or between 150 million and 200 million people \u2013 according to a report by the Beike Research Institute.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the number of people living alone in China skyrockets, a wave of products and services is emerging&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250656,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[93848,145713,145717,145712,85,145715,607,145716,145718,1759,145711,342,111,139,69,145714,2029,145,1430,93850],"class_list":{"0":"post-250655","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-anbound","9":"tag-apples-appstore","10":"tag-are-you-alive","11":"tag-are-you-dead","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-beike-research-institute","14":"tag-china","15":"tag-demumu","16":"tag-ele-me","17":"tag-japan","18":"tag-kodokushi","19":"tag-mobile","20":"tag-new-zealand","21":"tag-newzealand","22":"tag-nz","23":"tag-solo-living-population","24":"tag-spain","25":"tag-technology","26":"tag-united-states","27":"tag-zhao-zhijiang"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}