Loneliness and Social Isolation: An Unequally Shared Burden in Europe

36 Pages Posted: 10 Apr 2021

See all articles by Beatrice d'Hombres

Beatrice d'Hombres

University of Padua - Department of Economics

Martina Barjaková

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Sylke V. Schnepf

University of Southampton - Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute (S3RI); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Abstract

Concerns about loneliness and social isolation are growing more than ever. With the COVID-19 pandemic entering its second year, there are fears that the toll on loneliness could have consequences long after the virus recedes. This study offers a comparative overview of the incidence and determinants of loneliness and social isolation in Europe in the pre-COVID-19 period. The empirical results indicate that 8.6% of the adult population in Europe suffer from frequent loneliness and 20.8% from social isolation, with eastern Europe recording the highest prevalence of both phenomena. Trends over time do not indicate any change in the incidence of social isolation following the widespread adoption of social media networks from 2010 onwards. The empirical analysis shows that favourable economic circumstances protect against loneliness and social isolation, while living alone and poor health constitute important loneliness risk factors. Although social isolation increases with age, the elderly do not report more frequent feelings of loneliness than other age groups, all other things being equal. The relative contributions of the different objective circumstances included in the empirical analysis — demographic characteristics, economic conditions, living arrangements, health status, religious beliefs and geographical location — to chronic loneliness and social isolation vary substantially.

JEL Classification: I12, I14, I18, I30, D60

Suggested Citation

d'Hombres, Beatrice and Barjaková, Martina and Schnepf, Sylke V., Loneliness and Social Isolation: An Unequally Shared Burden in Europe. IZA Discussion Paper No. 14245, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3823612 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3823612

Beatrice D'Hombres (Contact Author)

University of Padua - Department of Economics ( email )

via Del Santo 33
Padova, 35123
Italy

Martina Barjaková

affiliation not provided to SSRN

No Address Available

Sylke V. Schnepf

University of Southampton - Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute (S3RI) ( email )

Southampton SO17 1BJ
United Kingdom

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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