A Social Report for Ireland Volume II - the NESC Website

194LonelinessThe National Council on Ageing and Older People has projected that in futuregreater percentages of our older people will live alone. Their research has foundthat 11 per cent of older people have minimal social contacts and a limited socialnetwork (NCAOP, 2005c). Data from ELSA shows that there is a ‘socio-economicgradient in loneliness’ with people on lower incomes most likely to be lonely.Factors reducing the likelihood of loneliness include having children living nearbyand having friends. People aged 80 and over are the most vulnerable to loneliness(Banks et al., 2006).The Irish SLÁN survey (2007) asked respondents if they often felt lonely in the lastfour weeks. Just under one in five (17 per cent) of people aged 65 and over saidthey felt lonely, compared to 13 per cent of 30-64 year olds, see Figure 8.22. Womenwere more likely to be lonely than men and people in lower social classes weremore likely to be lonely. For example, 28 per cent of women aged 65 and over insocial classes 5 and 6 said they felt lonely compared to 18 per cent of women in thesame age group in social classes 1 and 2 (Morgan et al., 2008: 94). People who arewidowed (any age) are about five times more likely to feel lonely than those whoare married or cohabiting.Figure 8.22 Percentage of Respondents who Answered ‘Yes’ to theQuestion ‘Have you often felt lonely in the last 4 weeks?’by Gender and Social Class, 126 2007%302523282017181413 13108 81090Men 45-64Men 65+ Women 45-64 Women 65+SC1-2 SC3-4 SC5-6Source Morgan et al., 2008: 94 (SLÁN, 2007)126. SC1-2 are higher (professional and managerial) social classes; SC3-4 are non-manual and skilled manual; SC5-6 are semi-skilledand unskilled.