Overview

• A Bertelsmann Stiftung survey of 2,532 Germans aged 16 to 30 found 10% reporting strong loneliness and 35% reporting moderate loneliness.
• Severely lonely respondents are 76% likely to say politicians do not take their concerns seriously, compared with 61% of their non-lonely peers.
• Sixty percent of those feeling strongly lonely doubt their ability to influence national politics, heightening their dissatisfaction with democracy.
• The study urges development of low-threshold civic participation formats and dedicated ‘Begegnungsräume’ to foster social connection among youth.
• The federal government has pledged to extend its national loneliness strategy, bolster research on youth isolation, and launched a third nationwide action week.