In 2023, 62 percent of students reported feeling lonely, according to the Trimbos Higher Education Monitor. And while that’s a significant decrease from 2021, when the pandemic brought the numbers to almost 80 percent, it’s still a worryingly high number.
Loneliness can be related to many factors, like a lack of in-person contact or feelings of not belonging. Some students describe it as a ‘feeling of emptiness’, or ‘feeling like something is wrong with you’.
It can be accompanied by low mood, anxiety, and other effects on mental and physical health, and can often lead to depression as well. But there’s not a one-size-fits-all model to approach it, let alone tackle it.
Four years after doing a series about loneliness at the peak of the pandemic, UKrant is wondering: have things changed in the student community? How widespread is the issue still and where does this feeling of loneliness stem from?
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