Who feels lonely in the European Union?

Francesco Berlingieri, Martina Barjaková, Andrea Garnero and Caterina Mauri wrote chapter 3 of Loneliness in Europe (Springer, 2024, open access), a volume edited by researchers at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. It uses the 2022 EU Loneliness Survey — the first large survey on loneliness and social connectedness covering all 27 member states — with more than 25,000 respondents; most results use 24,342 of them.

Age and gender: loneliness is highest among young adults and falls with age; women aged 16–24 are the most affected. The authors note this runs counter to some earlier findings and may partly reflect the pandemic and the online survey mode. Income and work: the poorest fifth of households stand out, and more than one in five unemployed respondents report feeling lonely. Minorities: people with a migration background (especially the second generation), non-heterosexual people and people with a disability report higher loneliness. Place: loneliness is most likely among the fifth of the population living in the least densely populated municipalities, and among people who have recently moved.

The chapter concludes that a person's social network and interactions matter more than demographic characteristics. Compared with married people, single people are 5 percentage points more likely to be lonely, and separated or widowed people 11 points. A happy relationship lowers the risk by 6 points relative to being single, while an unhappy one raises it. Close ties with several family members and friends outside the household lower it by 4–10 points, and meeting them at least weekly by 2–4 points. Being the only adult in the household adds 3 points.

Severe conflict at home (+10 points), separation from a partner (+7), losing a job (+7), a health shock (+5), conflict at work (+4) and finishing education (+3) in the previous year are associated with loneliness; retirement is not.

For housing, the findings point to recent movers, people living alone and residents of sparsely populated places as groups at higher risk. The chapter does not study housing design or tenure.