Loneliness in Germany-prevalence, development over time, and regional differences

Abstract

Loneliness is widespread and has negative health consequences. The present study seeks to answer the following questions: (1)how many people in Germany are highly lonely, (2)how has loneliness changed in Germany over time-in particular with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic, and (3)how is loneliness distributed regionally in Germany today? The present study uses data from the 2013, 2017, and 2021 waves of the Socio-Economic Panel, apopulation representative panel study from Germany. Based on the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) loneliness scale, we estimate prevalences for high loneliness for different risk groups in Germany. Further, using multi-level models, we estimate the changes in loneliness from 2013 to 2021. Finally, we generate regional maps to display the relative regional distribution of loneliness in Germany over the three assessment waves. The results show that around 2% of all people living in Germany are highly lonely, and this proportion has not changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, mean overall loneliness in Germany increased in the last decade, particularly during the pandemic. Additionally, the regional distribution of loneliness also changed. While eastern Germany was particularly affected by loneliness in 2013, western Lower Saxony, Rhineland-Palatine, and Hesse were the most affected regions during the pandemic. Reasons for these changes could be structural changes in the German society over the past 10 years or the COVID-19 pandemic and the different measures implemented to combat the spread of the COVID-19 virus. However, since the latest representative data on loneliness stems from 2021, further data collection is urgently needed to depict the current state of loneliness in Germany.