Solitude is up. More people live alone and 6% of us (equivalent to 3 million people in England) report feeling lonely often or always. The pandemic left millions of us alone for months on end.
But what kinds of solitude matter and how? After all, psychologists tell us being alone doesn’t necessarily mean being lonely. Solitude ranges from bliss to hell.
Distinguishing between different kinds of solitude turns out to matter for the economy too. So concludes new research investigating what solitude means for economic growth, using data from across European regions during the 2010s to investigate two kinds: living alone and being alone. A third of households across Europe constitute one individual. That’s up more than 10% between 2007 and 2016, with big regional variation: half of Berlin householders live alone.
That isn’t all plain sailing (with higher suicide risks) but there are big pluses for individuals (who often have rich social lives) and the economy. It turns out more single households actually translates into more dynamic, faster-growing economies. It’s part of more women working (a necessary condition given it’s more expensive to live alone) and urbanisation.
In contrast, loneliness – specifically lower levels of social interaction among the bulk of the population – is generally bad for growth. Social isolation damages our health and lowers employment. Fewer interactions also mean less chance for knowledge to spread, something economists see as central to growth.
It appears the ideal is a large share of the population meeting friends, family, colleagues regularly – say weekly. But not too regularly. Particularly high socialising actually harms growth. No one’s getting work done by sipping coffee all day in the village square.
• Torsten Bell is chief executive of the Resolution Foundation. Read more at resolutionfoundation.org
