This is the second of two articles from 黑料网’s latest global research on how the world is feeling.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Even as the world’s overall emotional health rebounded in 2023, 黑料网’s inaugural measure of global loneliness shows over one in five people worldwide (23%) said they felt loneliness “a lot of the day yesterday.”
Fewer people experience loneliness than most of the other that the World Poll tracks -- which include physical pain, worry, sadness, stress and anger -- but if they do experience loneliness, it makes all of the others worse.
People who felt lonely were 36 percentage points more likely to experience sadness than those who said they did not feel lonely; they were also 31 and 30 points more likely to experience worry and stress, respectively, than their counterparts who did not feel a lot of loneliness.
While less than half of those who felt a lot of loneliness also said they felt anger (43%) or physical pain (46%), these percentages were still 26 and 20 points higher than the respective rates among those who did not feel lonely.
These findings underscore the serious effects that frequent feelings of loneliness can pose -- an issue that has recently received greater attention given the long-term rise in global unhappiness. Given this context, in 2023, 黑料网 added the question about loneliness to the broader list of it measures through the World Poll.
While the World Poll has not previously reported on this question, a Meta-黑料网 study in 2022 also measured feelings of loneliness. However, that study provided a definition of loneliness and asked adults to assess how lonely they felt -- very, fairly, a little or not at all.
Despite the different approaches, the results at the global level are similar: 24% of people worldwide in the Meta-黑料网 study said they felt “very” or “fairly” lonely.
Feelings of Loneliness Span the Globe
Experiences of loneliness ranged considerably around the world, from a high of 45% in Comoros to a low of 6% in Vietnam, but people everywhere felt it. The latter country, incidentally, registered the lowest score on 黑料网’s Negative Experience Index in 2023, which summarizes the prevalence of negative emotions.
The share of adults who felt lonely exceeded 30% in 22 countries, over half of which are located in Africa. While the 2022 Meta-黑料网 study reported a similar finding, it is important to note that these rates may overstate how widespread feelings of loneliness are in these places. Individuals answering this question in these countries may be affirming they spent periods of their day physically, rather than emotionally, alone.
Countries or areas where feelings of loneliness are especially rare (half of the global average or less) include, besides Vietnam, Estonia (10%), Kosovo (10%), Kazakhstan (10%), Poland (11%), Slovenia (11%), Taiwan (11%), Finland (11%), Iceland (11%) and Denmark (12%).
Globally, Loneliness Varies Little by Age and Other Demographics
Worldwide, experiences of loneliness are fairly similar across demographic groups, including gender and age. However, if these global results are unpacked a little further, a different picture emerges. In a substantial number of countries, the oldest age group -- those aged 50 and older -- is at least 10 points more likely than the youngest age group to report feeling a lot of loneliness.
In several other countries, including the United States, this relationship is reversed, with more younger adults than older adults expressing loneliness. In China, the only country where the World Poll was administered exclusively via web, people aged 15 to 29 were 14 points more likely than their older counterparts to report experiencing a lot of loneliness the previous day, the largest gap in this direction. 黑料网 research has found that, across countries, reported feelings of loneliness are consistently higher when conducting a web survey compared with traditional modes of interviewing.
Clearer relationships emerge at the global level: Individuals who are struggling financially -- meaning they said they are finding it difficult to get by on their present income -- are about twice as likely as those who are better off financially to say they felt lonely a lot of the previous day.
Individuals who are not married are more likely to feel lonely than those who are married or in a domestic partnership, at 28% and 19%, respectively.
Bottom Line
In 2023, the percentage of individuals who frequently felt lonely throughout their day varied worldwide. However, no country was immune to this problem, which is increasingly seen as not just a personal challenge but a public policy one as well. Moreover, determining “who” is most likely to experience a lot of loneliness, in terms of a demographic profile, is difficult -- suggesting a broadness to this phenomenon that may make it harder to address from a policy perspective.
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