From anorexia to anti-insulin “diabulimia”: 5 million people affected in Italy, but “recovery is possible”
In recent years, loneliness has ceased to be perceived as an individual condition and has emerged as a genuine systemic issue. Today, it represents one of the most significant challenges for public health and social cohesion, to the point that major international institutions now describe it as an “epidemic of loneliness”.
According to the World Health Organization, around one in six people worldwide experiences loneliness. This is far from a marginal phenomenon: loneliness is associated with more than 871,000 deaths every year, an estimated 100 every hour. These figures place the issue among the key determinants of global health.
In Italy too, the picture reflects a profound structural transformation. ISTAT data show that more than one third of households consist of a single person, with particularly high rates among older people: around four out of ten people over the age of 75 live alone. At the same time, changes in work, economic conditions and lifestyles are making relational networks more fragile and discontinuous. Growing mobility, job insecurity and changes in family models are occurring in a context in which face-to-face interactions are decreasing and the perceived quality of relationships is showing signs of weakening.
A further element typical of contemporary societies adds to these dynamics: in more digitalised contexts, the number of connections increases, but not necessarily the quality of relationships. According to the Digital 2025 report by We Are Social, people worldwide spend an average of more than six hours a day online — just over five hours in Italy — and around two and a half hours on social media, around two hours in Italy. Censis reports that more than 60% of Italians describe themselves as dependent on digital technologies: a continuous exposure that broadens interactions, but does not guarantee stronger or more meaningful bonds.
In this scenario, loneliness is increasingly affecting young people and adults as well, definitively moving beyond the idea that it is a phenomenon limited to old age. In Europe, recent studies indicate that more than half of young people aged 18 to 35 — around 57% — experience at least moderate forms of loneliness, although chronic and more severe forms affect a smaller share of the population.
The lack of meaningful bonds
One point that is often overlooked concerns the very nature of loneliness, which does not necessarily coincide with social isolation: one can feel lonely even when surrounded by others, just as one can live alone without feeling lonely.
As highlighted by international literature and recent reports by the World Health Organization and the OECD, loneliness depends less on the number of relationships than on their quality. It is a subjective condition that arises when relationships fail to meet the need for connection, recognition and support. The frequency of contact, in fact, is only weakly correlated with feeling lonely: what matters is the quality of the bond and the sense of belonging it generates.
This qualitative dimension makes the phenomenon more complex. It is not enough simply to increase opportunities for contact; meaningful bonds need to be built.
What is being done: models that work
In recent years, some countries have begun to treat loneliness as a genuine public policy issue, moving beyond an exclusively social approach.
The most advanced case remains the United Kingdom, where the model of social prescribing has become established and is now adopted on a large scale. This approach, which connects patients with social activities and community services, is rapidly spreading internationally and is now used in several countries, from Europe to Asia.
At European level, the SP-EU – Social Prescribing Europe project was launched in 2025, funded by the European Commission. It involves several countries and aims to test the impact of this model on vulnerable groups, including lonely people, migrants and older adults.
Alongside health policies, structured initiatives are also emerging at European level. In 2025, the Lonely-EU project was launched: an international network designed to combat loneliness across different Member States. Loneliness is now firmly entering the European political agenda.
Cities are also beginning to act. A growing body of evidence shows that the design of spaces has a direct impact on social relationships. As the OECD points out, so-called social infrastructure — public spaces, meeting places and neighbourhood environments — is a decisive factor in interactions between people.
Recent studies show that the urban context can facilitate not only encounters, but also forms of informal sociability, in which people share a space without forced interaction. The presence of accessible public spaces, green areas and community places is associated with higher levels of social connection and reduced isolation.
In Europe, a significant example is the URBACT – Breaking Isolation network, which has involved several cities in developing urban strategies to tackle loneliness. The project has shown how urban space can be designed as a form of social infrastructure, capable of encouraging informal and everyday interactions and helping to reduce isolation.
At the same time, community and cultural interventions are spreading. European projects such as RECETAS, currently under way, use social activities in natural settings to strengthen connections between people and improve quality of life. Similarly, initiatives such as Culture on Prescription, developed within the Erasmus+ programme, have tested the use of artistic and cultural activities to combat isolation and loneliness and now represent models that can be replicated in different European contexts.
Established models are also emerging at an experimental level. Intergenerational programmes, which bring young and older people together through shared activities, are identified by international literature and organisations such as the OECD as among the most promising interventions for strengthening the sense of belonging and reducing loneliness.
Why it concerns everyone
People who are lonelier tend to have lower levels of trust, participate less and build more fragile relationships, including in work and consumption contexts. This is reflected in less cohesive organisations, less loyal customers and weaker communities.
Ultimately, it is the quality of relationships, more than anything else, that holds social and economic systems together.
Looking ahead
Looking to the coming years, several dynamics risk further amplifying the phenomenon: population ageing, the growing individualisation of life paths and the emergence of new forms of relationship mediated by artificial intelligence.
While these technologies can offer new forms of support and companionship, they also raise a crucial question: what happens when relationships become simulable?
The risk is that we become accustomed to relationships that are less demanding and increasingly controllable.
Loneliness is a problem to be understood and managed, but it is also a signal of the kind of society we are building. It tells us something about the way we experience time, spaces, work, technologies and even the very idea of community.
That is why addressing it means bringing a fundamental question back to the centre: what conditions still make an authentic human bond possible today?
Cover image: photo by fauxels, Pexels
