American men ages 15-34 experience loneliness 10% greater than counterparts in other nations: Gallup poll

According to a report by Gallup, aggregated data from 2023 and 2024 found that 25 percent of US males between the ages of 15 and 34 reported feeling lonely “a lot” the previous day. That number is notably higher than the national average of 18 percent and the 18 percent reported by young women.

Compared to other developed countries, American young men also stand out. Among the 38 mostly high-income, democratic nations that make up the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), the median loneliness rate for young men is 15 percent, closely aligning with the overall OECD median of 16 percent. No other country in the dataset showed a gap between young men and the rest of the population as large as the one in the US.

Only two other countries, Iceland and Denmark, reported higher loneliness in young men than the rest of the population, but the disparity in the US was by far the greatest.

The report also revealed that young US men are more likely to experience stress and worry. 57 percent of young American men said they feel stressed daily, compared to 48 percent of the broader adult population. OECD countries do, however, show young men reporting more stress than the rest of the population.

Gallup noted the seriousness of the findings, stating, “Feeling lonely every day is strongly associated with a range of negative life outcomes.” It further noted that lonely individuals are less likely to report smiling, feeling well-rested, or being satisfied with their personal freedoms and social relationships, and are only half as likely to be considered “thriving.”

The report added, “While young men in the US report experiences similar to other Americans across many emotional measures, they are more likely to feel worried and stressed, as well as lonely. When persistent or severe, these negative emotions can be associated with broader mental health challenges — an area where young American men also face notable difficulties. For example, they are significantly more likely than their female peers to experience deaths of despair.”

Gallup only began measuring global loneliness in 2023, so historical trends remain unclear. Still, the report concluded that “loneliness is weighing heavily on a generation of young American men.”