About 11 million people, or 20% of the population over 15, are lonely in France, according to a study published on January 23 by the France Foundation, which calls for a “de-stigmatisation” of loneliness. Want help.
The authors of the study emphasised that the percentage of lonely people will not decrease even after the end of the Corona epidemic. Despite having a “social life,” one in five people feels lonely “almost every day” or “often.”
Among people who feel lonely regularly, 8 out of 10 experience loneliness as an ordeal, or 9 million people in France.
Effects of the financial situation
According to Anne Cognex, who is in charge of studies at the Fondation de France, “the proportion of people who are alone varies greatly depending on their economic situation.”
“The poorer a person is, the weaker their social ties are.” “Among low-income people, 15% suffer from loneliness, compared to 8% in the high-income group,” she told.
Unemployment is also an aggravating factor: “The unemployed are twice as likely to suffer from loneliness as the working population.”
a phenomenon that appears to be reinforced by the health crisis. In 2020, 18% of the unemployed are lonely, and 21% are lonely in 2022.
And, while true loneliness can be reduced, loneliness cannot.Among people who are integrated in social relationships such as family members, friends, neighbors, or work colleagues who do not live under the same roof, the rate of loneliness reaches 17%, while others believe that the quality and nature of their bonds prevent them from feeling lonely. They are inadequate or a source of suffering.
Unity is being grasped step by step.
“Loneliness begins in stages, at different times in life, often after a series of traumatic events that weaken the fabric of a person’s relationships,” the study wrote. This “entering into solitude” sometimes turns into “solidifying solitude.”
This is the situation of elderly migrants, or as they are known in France, “Chibani,” supported by the “Olivi de Sage” association in the city of Lyon in south-eastern France.
Zahra Farhat, director of the association, told that “70 percent of the participants in this association are immigrants, most of them Algerians and most of them men, living in a retirement home for former migrant workers.” They came to France in the fifties and sixties and rejected this approach. a “family meeting” for their wives and children. Today they are single, visiting their families in their homeland every two or three years based on their pension. Because of their routine, Khalaf suffers from loneliness and depression.
And she continues, “They played the role of “financial breadwinner” for their families all their lives, and today they have no other relationship with them.”
The authors of the study emphasised that single mothers, who affect women more than men, also withdraw from the social world due to their preoccupation with children and housework, as well as this feeling of loneliness due to living people. In social housing or prison, for example,
“Remove the Stigma” About Loneliness
To encourage those concerned with this “difficult feeling” to seek help and give up, Cagneo says he “needs to remove the stigma of loneliness, the negative representations of this phenomenon, and encourage involvement in communities to form social bonds and increase their strength.” Self-confidence.”
That is why the France Foundation calls for a change in public perception so that people understand that loneliness is not an individual problem but a social phenomenon that affects people of all ages.
