Turkey took first place, scoring the maximum 100 points on the loneliness index. India came in second with 89 points, and Brazil came in third with 86. The top ten also included Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the UAE, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, and Indonesia.
The study’s results show that loneliness is by no means always linked to whether a person lives alone or in a large family. For example, in Turkey, a country known for its strong family traditions, 61% of respondents reported feeling lonely on a regular basis, and 45% said they felt socially isolated. At the same time, single-person households account for only about 20% of the total.
A similar pattern is observed in India. Despite large families and one of the lowest rates of living alone among the study’s participants, 58% of respondents admitted to feeling lonely. Furthermore, India had the highest level of sadness among the countries included in the ranking.
Brazil, which ranked third, showed one of the most unusual results. More than half of those surveyed reported feeling lonely, yet at the same time, the country’s residents showed a high level of life satisfaction. According to the researchers, this suggests that feelings of happiness and social isolation can coexist.
At the opposite end of the list were Uzbekistan and the Netherlands. Their residents reported feeling lonely less often than others and were more likely to describe their emotional state as positive. Canada and Thailand were also among the countries with the lowest levels of social isolation.
The study’s authors note that the main risk factor is not the physical absence of people nearby, but rather the emotional disconnect between them. In their view, modern loneliness is more often linked to the quality of human relationships than to the quantity of social contacts.
