The ‘loneliness epidemic’ in Europe has been the subject of several studies in recent years given the apparent lack of solutions to tackle it.

A study of more than 20,000 respondents in the 27 countries of the European Union shows that Ireland is the country where the highest number of people say they “feel alone most or all the time”, at 21%, followed by Estonia, Greece and Luxembourg, where 15% of the population suffer from loneliness.

On the other hand, Spain and Croatia are the countries where most people say they have good friends or a solid relationship with family members.

More effort but more risk-taking behaviour

The report found, for example, that lonely people “report a high willingness to engage in social activities (church visits and volunteering) and behaviours signalling positive social qualities (such as donating)”.

The data also reveals that those who feel lonely in Europe tend to be more predisposed to taking risky decisions in the areas of health, finance or even driving.

Feeling lonely can lead to the belief that “my voice doesn’t count”, so these people end up participating less in social and political decisions.

Another result pointed to by the European Commission data, published in early 2024, is that the lonelier people are, the less trust they have in other people or in institutions.

Three factors of isolation

But what external social factors cause loneliness? In answers to Evangelical Focus, Josep Araguàs, a clinical psychologist in Barcelona, highlights three.

On the one hand, “the increasing ageing of the population, which is often accompanied by cognitive, sensory and physical deterioration”.

A second factor is the “general deterioration of personal relationships, where egocentrism, utilitarianism and the temporality of these relationships are increasingly prevalent”.

But the therapist also points to the “massive and indiscriminate use of technology, which constantly creates a virtual reality for us and increasingly incapacitates us from engaging in face-to-face reality”.

Smartphones and digital connections

The omnipresence of smartphones and other electronic devices in hyperconnected societies has also been studied by the European Commission, which found that 34.5% of Europeans aged between 16 and 30 use social networks for over two hours a day, a behaviour considered addictive.

The percentage of high network consumption falls to 12% in the older age groups.

The data suggests that one in five young people under the age of 31 feel lonely, almost double the figure for older people. And that 60% of those surveyed believe that using social networks can help to reduce that loneliness.

Effects of singleness and marriage

Amongst singles, slightly more men (20%) than women (19%) said they always or almost always felt lonely.

But the figure rose even higher among respondents who said they were in ‘unhappy relationships’. 28% of women and 21% of men in relationships that did not work expressed feeling alone always or almost always.

Those who were married or in ‘happy’ relationships are the ones who perceive less loneliness: 7% of men and 8% of women.

When asked about this, Josep Araguàs analyses: “Without idealising marriage - as there can be a lot of loneliness within a couple - the reality is that marriage and family provide a very valuable degree of community in this age of loneliness”.

“Although the loneliness that single, divorced or widowed people may experience has different idiosyncrasies, it is true that these three groups of people must learn to build bonds beyond themselves, in order not to experience loneliness and isolation”, he adds.

“We must not escape loneliness but face it in a healthy way”

In 2022, the psychologist published the book En soledad y plenitud (in English, In Loneliness and Plenitude), in which he encourages people to “recognise this loneliness in ourselves without anxiety, guilt, complexes or shame... And from there, to be able to develop strategies to deal with it in a healthy way”.

For the Barcelona-based therapist, it is advisable to “not escape loneliness – although it is good to distract it temporarily”.

The main risk is trying to “mitigate loneliness with some kind of addiction, whether it be toxic addictions (alcohol or any other kind of drugs), emotional addictions (toxic relationships) or behavioural addictions (workaholism, gambling or screen addiction)”.

Faith and the churches

“By its very essence, the Christian faith is relational”, says Araguàs, who is of evangelical Christian faith. “Not only because of the relationship between Father-Son-Holy Spirit, but because of that longing for revelation on God's part, to make himself known to Humanity and more intimately to his people”.

In the face of loneliness, a key antidote is “the church understood as the family of God (Ephesians 2:19)”, he says, since “it eradicates many experiences of loneliness by involving the development of bonds of fraternity in different stages and circumstances of life”.