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Episode details

World Service,09 Jan 2026,13 mins

All the single ladies, put your hands up

What in the World

Available for over a year

Single girlies, put your hands up!!! Because haven’t you heard? It’s chic to be single. Think solo trips, personal growth for yourself and no one else, and as Miley Cyrus says, you can buy yourself flowers. If you are single, you aren’t alone - by 2030, 45% of women in the US aged between 25 and 44 will be single according to US data. Whilst getting into a relationship has historically been seen as the end goal, it seems that increasingly even if women are in one, they don’t post about their boyfriends. Attitudes to being single are changing - especially for women in heterosexual relationships - many are embracing the single life on social media a bit more We hear from Chanté Joseph, the author of that viral Vogue article with the big question ‘is having a boyfriend embarrassing now?’. Three single women tell us their takes on singledom and three BBC pals in China, Turkey and South Korea, tell us what the single stigma is like in their countries. Plus, we should all have a bit more main character energy shouldn’t we? So some of the What in the World team tell you what they’re doing this year to take on a leading role. Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Iqra Farooq Producers: Chelsea Coates and Emily Horler Editor: Verity Wilde

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