Loneliness during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Five European Countries

Anthony Lepinteur, Alessio Rebechi, Andrew Clark, Conchita D'Ambrosio, Nicholas Rohde and Claus Vögele
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Alessio Rebechi: University of Luxembourg
Claus Vögele: University of Luxembourg

No 17223, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We use quarterly panel data from the COME-HERE survey covering five European countries to analyse three facets of the experience of loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic. First, in terms of prevalence, loneliness peaked in April 2020, followed by a U-shape pattern in the rest of 2020, and then remained relatively stable throughout 2021 and 2022. We then establish the individual determinants of loneliness and compare them to those found in the literature predating the COVID-19 pandemic. As in previous work, women are lonelier, and partnership, education, income, and employment protect against loneliness. However, the pandemic substantially shifted the age profile: it is now the youngest who are the loneliest. We last show that pandemic policies affected loneliness, which rose with containment policies but fell with government economic support. Conversely, the intensity of the pandemic itself, via the number of recent COVID-19 deaths, had only a minor impact. The experience of the pandemic has thus shown that public policy can influence societal loneliness trends.

Keywords: age; COME-HERE; COVID-19; loneliness; pandemic policies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H51 I18 I31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 40 pages
Date: 2024-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eec, nep-hea and nep-ltv
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - published in: Economics and Human Biology, 2024, 55, 101427

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Related works:
Journal Article: Loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from five European countries (2024)
Working Paper: Loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from five European countries (2024)
Working Paper: Loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from five European countries (2024)
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