Almost half of young French adults 'are lonely'

45 percent of adults aged 18 to 35 years old say they feel lonely, a Mediaprism survey for Catholic daily La Croix reveals. 29 percent of youths say they feel excluded. 

12 percent of the people who admit to suffering from solitude say they "often" feel lonely, while 33 percent say they feel lonely "from time to time". Women are more likely to feel lonely than men. 58 percent of those who say they often feel lonely are female.

35 percent of the young adults say they suffer from loneliness because they don’t have enough money to go out. 31 percent say they don’t have enough confidence and struggle to relate to other people. 

Poverty and insecurity are some of the causes behind loneliness. 66 percent of those who feel lonely don’t have a job.

Experts say young adults are more exposed to solitude. "Young adults have more freedom and autonomy, that’s a good point. They can choose the networks they want to join," says sociologist Jean-Claude Kaufmann, in an interview with La Croix, "However, when young people have problems, the traditional safety nets - family, company, neighbours, village - don’t work as well as they used to."

The poll shows that 86 percent of the interviewees are on facebook, and have 178 "friends" on average. However 55 percent of them says the Internet worsens feelings of loneliness.