In 2019 the Faculty for Social Wellbeing made a break-through research which revealed that 43% of people over the age of 11 suffered from loneliness. This study, which I conducted with my colleagues Prof. Marilyn Clark and Jamie Bonnici, created waves in our community. At the time, we committed ourselves to keep doing this study every three years. Once again in 2022 the data is showing us that these trends are worrying, with an indication that the numbers keep growing. At the moment we are in the process of trying to analyse the data, but the initial findings for 2022 are demonstrating some shocking results including an increase in loneliness of more than 11%, and another increase of 2.9% in the severely lonely from 2019. What the 2022 study has confirmed is that 'loneliness' is a major social issue in the proportions of an epidemic, which is affecting our communities at their core.
It is true that following the 2019 study the Faculty managed to place this issue on the national agenda. Another positive was that this study has steered the Faculty to research other areas like 'solitary conferment' and 'deinstitutionalisation', which have also drawn attention, including that of Parliament. Nevertheless, it saddens me to say that not much has been done in terms of direct policy action.
Some shocking data that was extrapolated from our 2022 research by our researcher Jamie Bonnici, shows that 7.4% (which represent 26,862 persons) rated their coping ability as ‘not so good’. Results reveal that just over a tenth of respondents (10.5% - 38,115 persons) do not feel positive about their life. Two out of ten of the respondents (20.8% - 75,504 persons) experience a general sense of emptiness. Almost one in ten respondents (9.6% - 34,848 persons) revealed that they do not feel that there are plenty of people they can lean on when they have problems. More than one in ten respondents (13.8% - 50,094 persons) reported that they do not have a close friend. When participants were asked whether they miss having a really close friend, 29% (105,270 persons) replied with a ‘yes’ - this figure was higher amongst the 11-19-year-old age group (39.2%). 13.7% (49,731 persons) do not feel that they can call on their friends when in need. 16.6% (60,258 persons) of respondents do not feel that there are many people they can trust completely. The feeling of not having enough friends or acquaintances was more commonly reported by participants who did not feel a strong sense of belonging in their neighbourhood. Only 5.3% of those with a very strong sense of neighbourhood belonging and 6.3% of those with a fairly strong sense of neighbourhood belonging, felt that they did not have enough friends and acquaintances. Meanwhile, not having enough friends and acquaintances was reported by 13% of those who consider their neighbourhood belonging to be not very strong, and the figure was 17.8% of those with a ‘not at all strong’ sense of neighbourhood belonging.
To top it up, an estimated 198,198 (54.6%) persons feel lonely to a degree or other – now if this is not worrying, I really don’t know what is!
As a country we urgently need to walk the talk. The evidenced-based data is, from where I stand, at a cataclysmic level.
The main solution I find for this problem is that people need to return to rituals – rituals are our security and with a society which is becoming ever more individualistic and secular, this void is creating problems. People, now more than ever, tend to live the challenges they are facing on their own, and cutting off (or being cut off) from others is leaving enormous scars. Other tangible actions could include; more widespread access to talk therapy; closer work with GPs who can indicate physical ailments that are possibly a result of loneliness and/or vice versa; improved coordination between services like the Government’s LEAP, the Church’s Dijakonia and Soup Kitchens; bringing to life a national policy and strategy on suicide ideation and prevention; developing a national policy and strategy on loneliness; contemplating a change in our economic model; setting up of both a Commissioner and a Parliamentary Secretary on Loneliness.
Lest we forget, loneliness is costing the country a great deal of money. Now the ‘excuse’ I see being thrown at us is that we blame it on Covid-19. If we do that, our analysis would be minimalistic. Even if it was the case (which I don’t think it is) it also means that not enough work was done to address the post-Covid era, something I have been saying these last 12-18 months
The Covid-19 pandemic is a reality that ‘simply’ exposed our social weaknesses. It surfaced issues like a lack of solid community services; the reality that families are drifting away from each other; new family models that are not given the necessary support to function effectively; ineffective local councils; people over-dedicated to their work; a drop in volunteering; a growth in poverty and a bigger risk of social exclusion; an increase in the number of suicides and suicide ideation.
But I predict that the statistics we are revealing in this loneliness study wouldn’t have been very different without Covid-19 in between now and 2019.
If this situation doesn’t call for urgent action, I really don’t know what does.
This study captured Maltese citizens. So far, the estimated 20% of our population which is foreign and the thousands that reside in institutional care are not being bagged by this data which I foresee would have given us even higher numbers. The survey was carried out through telephone interviews, with a sample size of 572 individuals. Research was conducted from the age of 11 years upwards, with a confidence interval of +/- 4.1%. The data was collected in July 2022.
Prof. Andrew Azzopardi, Dean, faculty for Social Wellbeing