Loneliness has become a new pandemic in many countries, creating a variety of mental and physical health problems for people on a global scale.
An analysis of evidence from 113 countries and territories during 2000 to 2019 finds that loneliness has become a widespread problem globally.
Evidence shows that loneliness not only affects mental health and well-being, but also induces a number of physical health problems and could lead to premature death.
The study highlights critical data gaps, especially in low- and middle-income countries, verifying substantial geographic variation in loneliness; however, Northern European countries consistently showed lower levels of loneliness compared to other regions.
The negative effects of loneliness on health and longevity, the study findings reinforce the urgency of addressing loneliness as a major public health problem.
Roger O’Sullivan of the Public Health Institute of Ireland and a colleague argue that loneliness is costly to individuals and society and should be a political priority.
Scope of the severity of the problem
published by The BMJUS researchers estimated that about a third of the population in industrialized countries experience loneliness, and one in 12 people experience loneliness at a level that can lead to serious health problems.
But nevertheless, it is unclear how widespread loneliness is on a global scale – so a team of researchers led by the University of Sydney set out to look at the vast scale of loneliness internationally, which could help decision-makers formulate policies to address the scope and severity of the problem.
Pulling information from research databases, they reveal 57 observational studies reporting national estimates of loneliness from 113 countries or territories during 2000-19.
Data were available for adolescents (12-17 years) in 77 countries or territories, young adults (18-29 years) in 30 countries, middle-aged adults (30-59 years) in 32 countries, and older adults (60 years and older) in 40 countries. The data was considerably higher in high-income countries, particularly in Europe, compared to low- and middle-income countries.
Including 212 estimates for 106 countries from 24 studies included in the meta-analysis, the data for adolescents showed that the prevalence of loneliness was around 9.2% in Southeast Asia and 14.4% in the Eastern Mediterranean region.
For adults, meta-analysis was performed for the European region only, and a consistent geographic pattern was found for all age groups.
From this, the lowest prevalence of loneliness was consistently observed in Northern European countries (2.9% for young adults; 2.7% for middle-aged adults and 5.2% for older adults) and the highest in Eastern European countries (7.5% for young adults; 9.6% for middle-aged adults and 21.3% for older adults).
Loneliness has negative effects on health and longevity
The researchers highlight that even if the problem of loneliness had not worsened during their search period from 2000 to 2019, COVID-19 probably had a big impact on loneliness – Reduce the myth that loneliness is only a problem for older people.
The authors note that data gaps in low- and middle-income countries pose a significant equity concern and that the disparities were subject to limitations, such as different sampling procedures and measures adopted by the studies.
They call on health providers and decision makers to address social factors that can also increase the risk of loneliness, such as poverty, education, transportation, inequalities, and housing, incorporating the need to increase protective measures, such as public awareness campaigns that address stigma and stereotypes around loneliness, valuing community involvement.
The authors stated: “Our review provides an important pre-pandemic baseline for future surveillance. Public health efforts to prevent and reduce loneliness require ongoing, well-coordinated surveillance across different life stages and wide geographic areas.
“The considerable differences in the prevalence of loneliness between countries and regions call for in-depth research to unravel the drivers of loneliness at systemic levels and develop interventions to treat them.”
Although data on this were lacking to draw conclusions about trends in loneliness over time on a global scale, the authors say that public health interventions now need to take loneliness into account and take a life-course approach. and mental health.
