Loneliness peaks not among older people, but among the young

Most people associate loneliness with old age. Our latest research in the Netherlands shows the opposite.

The loneliest age group in the country is not 65-plus. It is 18 to 25.

Almost 7 in 10 young adults say they feel lonely at least sometimes. Among the over-65s, this is more than 1 in 4.

Loneliness steadily decreases with each age group in between. That runs counter to almost every story we tell about loneliness. We see it as a problem of old age, something we grow into rather than out of.

Summer adds another layer. We asked everyone who feels lonely how the season affects that. Across all lonely adults, more say the season makes it easier than harder: sunlight, longer days, more reasons to go outside.

Among the youngest, this flips. Nearly 4 in 10 lonely adults aged 18 to 25 say summer actually makes it harder, not easier.

It's not hard to see why. The season comes with a script: holidays with people, festivals with people, photos that prove you spent the summer with people. If that doesn't match your life, the gap is harder to ignore.

For many young people, summer is no breather. If anything, it's harder.