May 20 (UPI) — About a fourth of younger men surveyed in the United States feel lonely, which is significantly higher than the national averages for all men and women.
Gallup analyzed aggregated data from 2023 and 2024 to determine 25% of men between ages 15 and 34 reported feeling lonely the prior day when surveyed, the polling firm reported on Tuesday.
The percentage is seven points higher than the 18% average for young women in the same age group and the national average, which also is 18%.
Young men in the United States also are more likely to feel lonely than their counterparts in 38 of the higher-income democratic nations that are among the about 100 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Only 15% of young men in the 28 higher-income OECD states said they felt lonely the prior day, which is a 10-point loneliness gap from young men in the United States.
Turkey is the only nation cited that had a higher loneliness score, 29%, among young men, than those in the United States.
Only U.S. women between ages 35 and 54 also cited a significantly higher loneliness score, 20%, than their OECD counterparts, 14%, for a six-point gap.
Among such OECD states, only women age 55 and over, 19%, expressed loneliness at a higher rate than their U.S. counterparts, 17%.
Two age groups reported no difference in loneliness scores, while two others reported 2% higher rates in the United States than in higher-income OECD nations.
Young men in the United States also are more likely to experience stress and worry than the respective national averages for each, according to Gallup.
A separate poll casts some doubt on the Gallup report.
More than a third of U.S. citizens surveyed between ages 50 and 80 reported feeling lonely, according to the National Poll on Healthy Aging.
Another poll showed middle-aged adults in the United States reported feeling lonelier than seniors.
