Unwanted loneliness is one of the most silent and widespread social issues in our society. It affects people of all ages, but has a particularly significant impact on older adults. The digital divide, the loss of loved ones, reduced mobility and social activity, and changes in family structures, among others, are among the main risk factors.

In Spain, more than 1.7 million people over the age of 70 live alone, and projections from the National Statistics Institute (INE) estimate that by 2039, 33.5% of all households will be single-person households.

However, unwanted loneliness is not purely physical: it refers to a feeling of absence of meaningful connections that deeply affects emotional, physical, and social well-being. In this sense, around 16% of the world’s population experiences loneliness, and one in four older adults is in a situation of social isolation, according to the WHO.

The challenge for social services is to proactively detect situations of unwanted loneliness and build community-based responses that reach people in isolation, activate their immediate surroundings, and make social connection a collective priority.

In this webinar, we will learn about two initiatives that address unwanted loneliness:

• Vincles Alt Pirineu-Aran (Fundación iSocial, Cataluña): A project for the detection of and community-based response to unwanted loneliness, led by the iSocial Foundation together with social services in Alt Pirineu and Aran. Vincles combines a big data-based IT system, which cross-references available data to identify risk situations, with community activation actions. Through the role of community activators—who energize collective life—and community agents, key individuals within the community who contribute by detecting cases of loneliness and identifying warning signs, the project promotes well-being and enables a faster response from social services.
• Ogénie (Grup SOS Seniors, França): A program to prevent loneliness among older adults by facilitating access to local activities and resources. It combines support for local administrations—helping coordinate stakeholders, detect situations of isolation, and activate territorial responses—with a digital platform (ogenie.fr) that gathers activities, connects with professionals, and provides guidance in situations of loneliness. Present in around ten French departments, it demonstrates that early detection and community coordination can be scaled to reduce social isolation among older people.

SPEAKERS:

Marta Ortiz, Coordinator of the Vincles Alt Pirineu-Aran project at the iSocial Foundation

Émilie Laurelli, Head of Ogénie within the SOS Group