News

Eastern Europeans are loneliest in Europe

(10 May 2011)

Ania Lepkowska

People in Eastern European countries are the loneliest in Europe, according to a new cross-national study

The researchers suggest the high levels of loneliness in these countries may have been caused by the dramatic political and economic changes that accompanied and followed the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Research has shown that loneliness can have detrimental effects on someone's physical and mental health, and social isolation has been described as having the same negative impact on a person as obesity, an inactive lifestyle and smoking.  The findings suggest that policy makers in Eastern Europe need to take urgent action to assess what is needed to improve the quality of life for its people.

The study, which is published in Ageing and Society, examined a survey of 47,000 people across 25 nations in Europe.  It found that people in Eastern Europe, of all ages from teenagers up to people of 100 years old, felt the loneliest*.  For example, the percentage of people over 60 who said they were lonely was 34 per cent in Ukraine and 24 per cent in Russia. 

In contrast, people in Northern European states such as Denmark and Norway fared very well, with only three per cent of the over 60s feeling lonely.  People in the UK also reported reasonably low levels of loneliness (seven per cent in the 60 and above category).

This is the first time that Eastern European nations are included in a comparative study on the prevalence of loneliness across all European adult age groups. 

Although further research is needed to pinpoint how the political and economic changes in the former Soviet Union may have led to increased loneliness, the study authors propose the transformations seen in these countries can force people to move away from their family and friends in pursuit of a better life somewhere else resulting in feelings of loneliness and isolation.

Significant changes in a country's political and economic stability can also put strains on existing relationships and make it more difficult to establish new trustworthy friendships.

Lead author Dr Keming Yang, from Durham University's School of Applied Social Sciences, said: "Loneliness is widely seen as a problem of old age.  Although feelings of loneliness do tend to increase as people get older, our analysis suggests that the country in which people live is a much bigger factor than age. 

"We can see there is a clear pattern of groups of countries with high or low rates of loneliness.  The groups have certain circumstances in common such as a recent history of social transformation or dramatic political changes, or at the other end of the scale, community cohesion and political stability."

The researchers analysed answers to a question about loneliness contained within the European Social Survey.  It asks people how often they have felt lonely in the past week to which they can answer 'none or almost none of the time', 'some of the time', 'most of the time', 'all or almost all of the time', or 'don't know'.

The analysis also showed across the board that older people, and especially those aged 60 and over, feel lonely most often, whilst middle-aged people between 30 and 60 years old are the least lonely.

Co-author Professor Christine Victor, from the School of Health Sciences and Social Care at Brunel University, commented: "We see very high rates of loneliness across all age groups amongst countries formerly under Soviet influence, and these reflect how peoples' expectations of social engagement and the broader social context influence feelings of loneliness.

"The former Soviet bloc countries such as Ukraine illustrate how political and social instability and resultant social changes, including the loss of the social infrastructure, can be reflected in high rates of loneliness."

 CASE STUDY - Ania Lepkowska

Ania Lepkowska was born and raised in Warsaw in Poland.  She moved to the UK in 2003 and is married with two children.  She works in the financial sector in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

She said: "Although Poland was not officially part of the USSR, when the Soviet Union collapsed it was initially a very exciting and liberating time with the abolition of censorship and introduction of freedom of speech. Later though, when Poland joined the European Union, lots of people began emigrating for better paid jobs or greater career opportunities.  This social restructuring with families and friends no longer living in close proximity to each other may well have contributed to people feeling somewhat lonely.

"In Poland and other eastern European countries, it was quite common for different generations to live together under one roof and I can see that, once people started leaving, that it would result in family units being broken up, with less multi-generation living. I am sure this will also have contributed to a higher percentage of elderly people feeling lonely.

"I think this research is really interesting because as a linguist I have a strong interest in different cultures.  One observation I have is that Eastern Europeans are generally more reserved and less expressive than their UK counterparts.  Often one simply cannot tell if someone is happy or sad.

 "As a consequence of this, communities and neighbours might not be able to readily identify when they should gather together to support someone who is feeling lonely."