Loneliness epidemic, health concerns grow as global survey shows widespread loneliness

 Loneliness epidemic, health concerns grow as global survey shows widespread loneliness

Almost a quarter of the world's people feel lonely, according to US survey organization Gallup, whose pollsters warned of "serious physical and mental effects" as a result.

In Gallup's first global survey on this subject 23% of participants said they felt lonely "a lot of the day yesterday" and were in turn 36 percentage points more likely to "experience sadness" than others and 20 points more likely to feel angry.

Lonely people were 26 percentage points more likely to report being angry or be suffering from physical pain than others and were 31 and 30 points more likely to be worried and feel stressed.

Levels of loneliness varied across countries and age groups, with the over-50s more likely in general to report such feelings, but much less likely in China and the US, where younger adults appear to be lonelier than their elders.

The world's least lonely people are in Estonia, Vietnam, Kosovo and Kazakhstan, where only 1 in 10 reported feeling that way, with Iceland, Poland, Slovenia and Taiwan next best at 11%.

The findings come despite decades of technological advances, such as social media, which can help people to stay in touch with each other to a degree arguably unprecedented in human history. 

However there have been indications that phone addiction and endless scrolling through messages and apps are contributing to unhappiness and mental health issues.

In 2023, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy flagged "increasing concerns" that social media was harming young users.

The same year, Murthy warned of a wider "loneliness epidemic" in the US that was putting people at greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety and premature death. In late 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) listed loneliness as a health concern.

Demographic and social changes in wealthy countries have, according to some studies, contributed to loneliness, with family sizes shrinking and older people increasingly likely to be put in care or nursing homes rather than be looked after in their dotage by family.

Harvard University doctors last month published research showing over-50s who "experienced chronic loneliness" were 56% more likely to get a stroke than other people of similar age.

Robot "companions" for lonely old people have been rolled out in countries such as Japan, South Korea and the US.

Last year the journal Science Robotics published a paper suggesting artificial intelligence bots could be added to such robots to enable them to 'chat' to their isolated owners.

Around the same time, however, a survey of workers in four countries found that those who used AI while on the job were more likely than others to be lonely and to have trouble sleeping