WHO sounds the alarm: Loneliness makes people sick – one in six people worldwide affected

Geneva. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), one in six people worldwide is affected by loneliness. This is the report of a WHO commission examining the topic of social relationships. Loneliness and social isolation cause physical illness, contributing to 871,000 deaths worldwide each year.

Loneliness increases the risk of, among other things, strokes and heart attacks, diabetes, depression, anxiety, and suicide. Lonely teenagers are 22 percent more likely to receive lower grades than their classmates, and lonely adults have a harder time finding or keeping a job. People and families are affected not only individually. Society incurs billions in costs for healthcare and through job losses, for example.

Commission co-chair Vivek Murthy defines loneliness this way: "Loneliness is a painful, subjective feeling that many of us experience when we lack the relationships we need. In contrast, social isolation is an objective state in which there are few relationships or interactions."

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The report states that one in three older people and one in four adolescents are estimated to be socially isolated. Causes include illness, poor education and low income, a lack of social opportunities, living alone, and digital technologies.

According to Murthy, humans have communicated for thousands of years not only through words, but also through facial expressions, body language, voice, and silence. This is lost when people constantly communicate via mobile phones and social media.

The WHO cites Sweden as a good example: The country has a national strategy against loneliness, as Swedish Minister of Social Affairs Jakob Forssmed reports. It has been recognized that it is not just lonely people who have a problem, but society as a whole. In Sweden, conscious efforts are now being made to facilitate social contact in many places, for example, in shops or restaurants, in neighborhoods or clubs. All children and young people will soon receive gift cards, but these can only be used to book group activities for leisure time.

Sweden will ban cell phones in public schools, the minister said. Studies have shown that this increases social contacts and reduces cyberbullying. Children and young people sleep better and find it easier to put their phones away, even during leisure time. Children are also often frustrated when their parents are constantly busy with their cell phones, Forssmed said.

Digital technologies have their advantages, the commission emphasizes. They allow for contacts, such as video, that were previously impossible. Nevertheless, "It is very important to have places and spaces in our lives where we can interact with other people face-to-face without being distracted by technology," Murthy said.

RND/dpa