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Survey: One out of three elderly in the city has nobody to socialize with and lives in isolation
One out of three elderly (32%) in the urban environment feels isolated and lives in continuous isolation without having anybody to socialise with and who to rely on in necessity situations, according to the resuls of a survey made by Kantar Romania and commissioned by the Association „ Niciodata Singur - Prietenii Varstnicilor” ( Never Alone - the Friends of the Elderly -o.t.) is mentioned in a press release sent by the non-governmental organisation.
According to the research, one out of four people of over 65 in the urban environment, namely 450,000 people face a high degree of solitude, and 36% of the interviewees feel an average level of solitude, the press release says.
Factors such as the poor health state or the loss of the life partners contribute to the reduction of the social interactions, so that 28% of the elderly get to socialize with maximum four people in a month, says Asociatia Niciodata Singur - Prietenii Varstnicilor.
According to the survey, solitude affects the health state of the elderly as well. Thus, one out of four people state they have a poor physical and mental health state and out of the people with a high degree of solitude, 39% have physical issues, which represents two times more than the average.
The health state determines the elderly to spend more time indoors; 64% of them spend the largest part of the time doing household chores, such as cooking and cleaning, occupations used as mechanisms in the fight with solitude.
Their routine looks like this: 43% go out for a walk around the house or in the park, 33% watch TV and only 27% have activities outside the house, gardening or with other hobbies.
Those who face a high degree of solitude go out the house even less -18%.
The study ' Exploration and measurement of solitude with elderly in Romania'was made by Kantar Romania,at the commission of the „Asociatia Nicioadata Singur - Prietenii Varstnicilor”, between 27th September and 12th October 2021.
The research included a qualitative part ( interviews with people in the representative sector of age) and a quantitative one ( survey by phone interviews among elderly).
The study was made on a sample randomly generated, representative at national level.
In this context, Asociatia Niciodata Singur - Prietenii Varstnicilor announced the launching of the campaign 'The Pandemics of Solitude'- a campaign raising awareness about the issues the elderly who are alone are facing, but as well as raising funds for the latter.
The purpose of the campaign is to determine the public to understand the solitude of the senior citizens and get involved in offering them a dignified and peaceful old age, the press release says.
Asociatia Niciodata Singur - Prietenii Varstnicilor is an organisation with the mission to bring dignity in the life of the senior citizens who are alone, by voluntary action and civil implication. Starting with 2015, the association has organised over 250 volunteers and support 250 senior citizens who live alone and over 600 senior citizens who live in homes, in Bucuresti, Braila, Ploiesti, Pitesti, Constanta, Iasi, Cluj-Napoca, Brasov, Ramnicu Valcea and Targoviste.