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A rising number of adults over 50 are opting to live the single life, the New York Times reports citing a new study.

Based on an analysis of 2010 census data, demographers at Bowling Green State University in Ohio discovered that a third of adults between the ages of 46 and 64 were divorced, separated or had never been married. That’s compared with 13 percent of the unmarried population in 1970. The divorce rate among baby boomers has jumped by more than 50 percent in the last 20 years.

Researchers expect those numbers to continue to rise over the coming decades, the Times reports. What’s more, researchers see the shift impacting future care and services for older adults, many of whom have depended on spouses for support. They will have to search for other options to fend for themselves, which can be a daunting task. The Times reports that unmarried baby boomers are five times more likely to live in poverty than their married counterparts.

“We can’t just say that older people don’t get divorced or that middle-aged people won’t grow old alone,” said Susan L. Brown, director of the National Center for Family & Marriage Research at Bowling Green State and a co-author of the study.

“Now we actually need to pay attention to it, not only to the factors that precipitate, but also to the consequences,” Brown said.

You can read more about the study here.