“Ireland may have high levels of loneliness because of its age profile, rurality and high levels of inward and outward migration,” says Dr Joanna McHugh Power, who chairs a taskforce on loneliness.
An associate professor in the psychology department at Maynooth University, she is co-author of a new academic paper with a striking title: The Loneliest Nation in Europe? Ireland as a case study and implications for policy.
Published in February, the paper analysed an earlier European Commission survey that found that 20 per cent of Irish people reported that they felt lonely most or all of the time, compared with 13 per cent of all Europeans surveyed.
“Countries with a typically higher socioeconomic status of citizens, with higher income, education, employment and social participation levels typically have lower levels of loneliness,” McHugh Power says..
However, she points out that while Ireland’s socioeconomic profile – in plainer terms, its high levels of employment and education – would seem to predict lower levels of loneliness, the country does have the largest gap between highest and lowest income of all high-income EU countries. It also has one of the youngest populations in Europe – with the median age at 39 years – which might account for higher levels of loneliness in young people.
It’s also worth noting that while older adults, those aged 85-plus, have long since been identified as an at-risk group for loneliness in both Irish and international research, people in the 18-25 category are the second age group where loneliness peaks. In fact, the 2018, the BBC Loneliness Experiment – a British national survey on loneliness led by the BBC and the University of Manchester – actually found that levels of loneliness were higher among those aged 16-24 years (at 40 per cent) compared with those aged 75 and older (at 27 per cent).
[ ‘Sometimes, I am one of the lonely people. And it isn’t usually when I am alone’Opens in new window ]
The movement of people to a country or from a country has also been associated with increased levels of loneliness, both in those departing and those left behind. Both inward and outward migration have increased in Ireland in recent years, which could be another reason why the European Commission survey found higher levels of loneliness in this group here.
Researchers have also found that migrants leaving traumatic experiences of war and persecution are particularly prone to loneliness, as are those remaining in the country from which family members and friends emigrate. Not being fluent in the language in the country to which a person has moved can also lead to feelings of social isolation.
Ireland also has one of the lowest population densities of all EU countries, with more people living outside of urban areas than in many other states.
And as chair of the Loneliness Taskforce Research Network, McHugh Power and her colleagues also help inform the Government on the best policies to alleviate loneliness. Like many other countries, Ireland first began to focus on loneliness at a policy level towards the end of the Covid-19 pandemic.
With an awareness that many of the mandatory social distancing and cocooning guidelines introduced to curb the spread of the virus had a lasting impact on certain groups – with some people not returning to community-based activities two to three years after the pandemic had ended – the effort to combat loneliness became part of the HSE’s mental health promotion plan from 2022-2027. Loneliness was also recognised as a health priority by the European Commission in 2023.
“It’s also important to say that loneliness is not a mental health issue per se as most of it is transient – say, when you move to a new area and don’t have any social networks – but if it becomes chronic, it can lead to poor physical and psychological health outcomes,” says McHugh Power.
Adults who are lonely have higher levels of the stress hormone, cortisol. They also typically have higher blood pressure, more disrupted sleep and cardiovascular problems than those who aren’t lonely. Loneliness is also linked to depression and unhealthy behaviours such as poor diet, smoking and lack of physical exercise.
[ Why is Ireland, the land of a thousand welcomes, the loneliest country in Europe?Opens in new window ]
To date, in Ireland, much of the health policies aimed at alleviating loneliness have focused on social prescribing. Social prescribing is when a health professional suggests community-based activities such as community gardening, Men’s Sheds, walking groups, parkruns, etc, for individuals who require physical or mental health supports, including ways to combat social isolation.
“There are also different types of loneliness – emotional loneliness which is experienced after loss through bereavement, separation/divorce or job loss, while social loneliness refers to feeling lonely due to the lack of a social network, friends or colleagues,” explains McHugh Power. And social loneliness tends to be the type of loneliness that policies aim to address.
Dr David Robinson is a consultant geriatrician at St James’s Hospital in Dublin and the co-chair of the All Ireland Social Prescribing Network. “We don’t have any evidence in Ireland proving the success of social prescribing but in the UK, there is evidence that it reduces loneliness,” Robinson says. One Donegal study on social prescribing published in 2015 did, however, find that those who take up activities of their choice go to their GP less. “A 20 per cent reduction in GP visits was found. The key is to de-medicalise social prescribing and in Ireland, there are about 50 social prescribers based in the community and voluntary sector,” Robinson adds.
Yet, some researchers claim putting the onus of solving loneliness on the individual misses the fact that environmental factors such as urban infrastructure, poor transport options and even housing design can contribute to feelings of loneliness.
Consider how public squares with fountains and arcades in many Italian cities allow people of all ages to congregate while also offering opportunities for chance encounters with friends and acquaintances. Granted, it’s invidious to compare the atmosphere of a sunny Italian piazza to the experience of being outdoors in weather-beaten Irish public spaces, but there is also a cultural reticence here to encouraging people to enjoy open spaces in Irish cities and towns apart from during organised events.
This lack of spaces where people can meet without having to part with money has been identified as another factor that may increase levels of loneliness in this country. Christopher Swader is associate professor in the department of sociology at Lund University in Sweden and co-author with McHugh Power of the aforementioned the academic paper. Swader suggests that Ireland has “park, cafe and library deserts”. Swader describes Ireland as the only country in all the EU countries surveyed by the European Commission that relies on “commercial pathways” to resolving loneliness.
“Ireland lacks [free] social spaces for the population to meet and socialise at, relying instead on places of commerce such as cafes and restaurants,” he says.
Youth workers throughout the world are also very conscious of the rise in levels of loneliness in young people. Jigsaw, a national centre of youth mental health support, has found that approximately 20 per cent of young people accessing its services have issues with loneliness and social isolation.
And while there is still some residual stigma attached to openly admitting to feeling lonely, Jennifer Noonan, clinical manager with Jigsaw in Galway/Roscommon, says that giving individuals the space and opportunity to be honest about their feelings can help.
“Developing a connection with each young person who comes to Jigsaw is the main thing we try to do. Even in one weekly session of therapy, young people can practise their social skills, tolerate their feelings and explore new connections,” says Noonan.
She says that with people spending more and more time online, loneliness can sometimes go unnoticed. “Families are not sitting together chatting in the sittingroom as much now and even if they are in the same room, they are often all on their own devices.”
In 2023, Canada became the first country in the world to create both individual and community level public health guidelines for social connection.
Dr Kiffer Card, assistant professor in the faculty of health sciences at the Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, gave a presentation on these guidelines to the Irish Loneliness Taskforce Research Network last month.
The guidelines for individuals advise everyone to make social connection a life priority and to seek out face-to-face interactions, and use technology wisely. The community guidelines include making social connection a priority in policies and practices, as well as designing environments for connection while investing in social events.
And, as Dubravka Suica, then European commissioner for democracy and demography, said in the foreword in the commission’s survey, “loneliness is not inevitable and it is not an individual but a societal issue”, urging everyone to consider their own role in combating loneliness in communities.
Readers share their experience of loneliness
These are edited extracts of responses sent to The Irish Times after a request for readers to share their experience
- “I suffer from loneliness and it has gotten worse as I’ve got older. I’m married but my marriage is not a happy one and honestly there’s nothing as lonely as being married to someone you know doesn’t love you and barely speaks to you. Unfortunately, financially neither of us can afford to leave. I’ve worked so hard all my life and to my huge regret I never took the time to nurture friendships and as a result I’ve no close friends. I never hear anyone talk about being ashamed of having no friends or being lonely but I am, deeply ashamed.”
- “I am a 60-year-old man and suffering with terrible loneliness. I have reached out to people for company but it never really helped in forming friendships. It seems that most people have already formed their friendships in my age group and aren’t interested in their network of people being disrupted.”
- “I am on my own after the break-up of a long-term relationship. All my friends are married or in relationships and not really interested in socialising - they do everything with their partners. It’s difficult later in life to make new friends or join a new group ... I miss having someone to go on holidays with – it’s not the same on your own and can be stressful, airports are frightening places! Someone to go out for meals with or even just for a few drinks and a chat. My children have their own children and busy jobs. I would never tell my children how I feel - I do not want to be a burden.”
- “Forties, single woman, no children. I spend all my time on my own. Aside from work colleagues, I meet nobody else. I am very disappointed in coupled friends. I used to be very sociable, interested in their lives and their families, but I am no longer since the pandemic when I felt very let down by friends. I am very lonely, but I don’t invest in friendships or seeking a partner any more; it was all a one-way street. I dread the thoughts of growing old. I used to be bright, bubbly, attractive, full of hope and excitement in life, interested in getting out in the world, chatting and meeting people. Life just didn’t work out for me.”
- “I’ve experienced loneliness quite a bit, especially after retiring. I often find myself at home reminiscing about the past and missing the social interactions I used to have at work. It can feel overwhelming some days.”
