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Norwegians are among the least lonely in Europe
The Nordic countries stand out with a low prevalence of loneliness. The welfare state, health, and culture explain a lot, the study shows.
“We conclude that loneliness is affected on several levels," she says.
Aartsen explains that this concerns the individual, the local environment such as neighbourhood and social networks. Loneliness can also be structural or cultural – for example, welfare schemes and norms about ageing, being alone, or family care.
Living alone is a risk factor, but the effect is stronger in countries where living alone is uncommon. This contributes to the Nordic countries being among the least lonely in Europe – and also globally.
Norway, along with the other Nordic countries, has a low incidence of loneliness.
Possible explanations are the welfare system, free health services, and relatively low expectations of what the network should do in crises – many rely on public services, Aartsen explains.
“This may change if the family is given a larger role,” she says.
Aartsen points out that the Nordic countries have an individualistic culture where autonomy is highly valued.
Researchers also distinguish between different types of loneliness.
Social loneliness, when the network is perceived as too small, and emotional loneliness, which is about longing for a close partner, even with many friends.
"The risk factors at the micro, meso, and macro levels vary between types. A universal approach therefore often works poorly,” she says.
https://partner.sciencenorway.no/countries-and-regions-elderly-mental-health/norwegians-are-among-the-least-lonely-in-europe/2570764
Posted by Emergency-Sea5201
8 Comments
In many “warm” countries, the more people around you, the more you feel alone.
Is much better to have a deeper connection than superficial relationships that are often fake.
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The problem that Norwegians are quite unsocial from the get go. So the “lonely” bar is much higher from the start.
Hard to be lonely when you don’t hang out with people to begin with. 3D chess!
We have an 80 year neighbour who lives alone but my husband often marvels at her social life, she ALWAYS has things on and is out and about or having visitors. I wonder if the volunteering centric society has something to do with these results because in my community all the old people are constantly helping with everything
I dont belive it
It would be interesting to know what metrics they used to measure it, as I didn’t see it in the article. The common understanding of a term and the academic measurement can often vary, as with e.g. “happiness” indices that often measure metrics such as healthcare and other social welfare, which is good and I definitely believe contribute to less unhappiness, but is not necessarily a measurement of percentage of people feeling happy. As they mention different kinds of loneliness some types are probably more in accordance with the common public understanding of the term, and experience, than others.
Did anyone read the actual paper,? I was really interested in the actual results and methods. Id want more data but the paper in itself focused mostly on older folks not society in general.
Id guess it’s due to norwegian retirees never expected anything else but themselves while other places have traditionally expected a full family structure as a pension plan.