PARIS: A growing sense of loneliness is spreading among young people and senior citizens in industrialised countries, according to a study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), reported German Press Agency (dpa).
Among 16 to 24-year-olds, the proportion of those having daily contact with friends fell from 44 per cent in 2015 to 36 per cent in 2022, after an earlier nine percentage point decline between 2006 and 2015, the OECD reported in Paris on Thursday.
The study found that between 2018 and 2022, young people were the group most affected by the perception that social relationships had deteriorated.
Among older people aged 65 and above, the strongest increase in social isolation was observed across all age groups.
The proportion of people who said they never meet friends rose by 5.5 percentage points to 11.4 per cent between 2015 and 2022.
However, the OECD cautioned that these figures likely reflect the reluctance to engage in direct contact during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Overall, the OECD study found that in industrialised countries, in-person interactions have steadliy declined over the past 15 years, while frequent contact with friends and family through phone calls or social networks has increased. – BERNAMA-dpa
