An EU loneliness survey carried out last year has found that loneliness is most prevalent in Ireland with over 20% of respondents reporting feeling lonely.

Luxemburg, Bulgaria and Greece follow suit in terms of highest loneliness rates.

The lowest levels were seen in the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Croatia and Austria with under 10% of respondents reporting feeling lonely.

Overall in 2022, more than one-third of respondents were lonely at least sometimes and 13% were lonely most of the time.

For the first time across the whole EU, loneliness has been measured in several ways, allowing for comparisons across scales.

Factors

The survey showed that the prevalence of loneliness decreases with increased age, income, and education.

It said that having several meaningful relationships is associated with lower loneliness levels, but the frequency of contact also matters.

Also, it found that people experiencing major life events such as separation, job loss or finishing their studies are more often lonely.

Loneliness is described in the report as a subjective feeling and defined as an unmet need in terms of quantity or quality of social interactions. Being lonely is a negative feeling, conceptually distinct from being alone.

The data from over 20,000 people found that feelings of loneliness were broadly similar among men and women.

It concluded by saying that both the number and the quality of social relationships are important and having several close friends and family reduces the chances of being lonely, but being single is better than being in an unhappy partnership.