Loneliness among the Dutch has increased. Last year, 43 percent of the population indicated that they feel somewhat or even very lonely, in 2019 this was still 35 percent. This is reported by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) based on a survey.
Statistics Netherlands presented a questionnaire about loneliness to almost 7,000 Dutch people aged 15 or older. One of the questions asked was whether people often feel abandoned or experience emptiness around them. The statisticians conclude that last year 11 percent of the Dutch even felt very lonely. In 2019, so before the outbreak of the corona crisis, it was still 9 percent. Single people are the most likely to report being lonely.
Feelings of social and emotional loneliness increased in all age groups. In social loneliness the feeling of social contact is missing, in emotional loneliness the feeling of a close bond. Young people in particular say that they feel very lonely emotionally than in 2019. According to sociologist Tanja Traag of Statistics Netherlands, it can be said with certainty that the corona pandemic has had a negative impact on feelings of loneliness. For other population groups, that link cannot be established with certainty at the moment.
In addition to figures on loneliness, CBS also published research into people who do not keep up with society. A large proportion of these ‘socially excluded’ are still in the same vulnerable position after ten years, the statistical office reports.
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