Ireland has the highest rate of loneliness in Europe, research shows

Eva Osborne

Ireland has the highest rate of loneliness in Europe.

That is according to European Commission research ahead of a national conference on the topic on Tuesday.

It will focus on how loneliness can be addressed as a health and systems issue, rather than an individual failing.

The conference is being run by the Loneliness Taskforce Research Network and the charity ALONE.

The first ever EU-wide survey on loneliness found that, on average, 13 per cent of respondents report feeling lonely most or all of the time over the past four weeks, while 35 per cent report being lonely at least some of the time.

According to the survey, loneliness is most prevalent in Ireland with over 20 per cent of respondents reporting feeling lonely.

Luxemburg, Bulgaria and Greece follow. The lowest levels were observed in the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Croatia, and Austria.

Chief executive of ALONE, Seán Moynihan, is calling for action from the Government and State bodies.

"The European evidence shows that we're possibly the loneliest country in Europe and utimately that's why we need a policy response both from the Department of Health, the HSE, and from Government to make sure that we don't have as many lonely people, both young and old."