Social isolation is linked to higher mortality rates and illness

Jul 30, 2019

A protester offers a paper flower to pay honours to a man, who died after falling from a scaffolding at the Pacific Place complex while protesting, during a demonstration demanding Hong Kong's leaders to step down and withdraw the extradition bill, in Hong Kong, China, June 16, 2019. REUTERS/Thomas Peter TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RC19CBB95A60

Psychologists refer to loneliness as painful isolation to make a distinction from solitude. Image: REUTERS/Thomas Peter

Esteban Ortiz-Ospina

Senior Researcher and Content Lead, Our World in Data

Our Impact

The Big Picture

Explore and monitor how Health and Healthcare is affecting economies, industries and global issues

A hand holding a looking glass by a lake

Crowdsource Innovation

Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:

Health and Healthcare

Effect of long-term social isolation on mammary tumor growth and diagnosis at 15 months. (A) Tumor burden (mean SEM) after living alone or in noncrowded social groups. (B) Rats with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) or malignant tumors were primarily socially isolated; those with benign or no tumors lived in groups. (C–H) Wide range of naturally developing mammary tumors: (C) fibroadenoma; (D) lactating adenoma; (E) intraductal papilloma; (F) DCIS; (G) invasive ductal carcinoma; (H) fibrosarcoma.

Image: PNAS

Have you read?

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

The Agenda Weekly

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

Subscribe today

You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.

More on Health and Healthcare
See all

What are the 5 most important things that the UN is doing to improve global health?

United Nations

September 22, 2023

The pathway to a sustainable food system is through human health

Oliver Wright and Andrew Moose

September 21, 2023

How climate change makes global health issues harder to solve

Chris Hamill-Stewart and Gayle Markovitz

September 20, 2023

These 21 innovations are enabling sustainable forest management and linking forests to human well-being

Prachi Jha and Gianluca Gygax

September 20, 2023

Understanding women's needs: Patient engagement in novel family planning in Emergency Departments

Amira Ghouaibi and Amjed Ali

September 20, 2023

Better Climate, Better Health: Using Precision Public Health Tools to Tackle Climate-Sensitive Diseases in China