The COVID-19 global pandemic and subsequent public health social measures have challenged our social and economic life, with increasing concerns around potentially rising levels of social isolation and loneliness. This paper is based on cross-sectional online survey data (available in 10 languages, from 2 June to 16 November 2020) with 20,398 respondents from 101 different countries. It aims to help increase our understanding of the global risk factors that are associated with social isolation and loneliness, irrespective of culture or country, to support evidence-based policy, services and public health interventions. We found the prevalence of severe loneliness was 21% during COVID-19 with 6% retrospectively reporting severe loneliness prior to the pandemic. A fifth were defined as isolated based on their usual connections, with 13% reporting a substantial increase in isolation during COVID-19. Personal finances and mental health were overarching and consistently cross-cutting predictors of loneliness and social isolation, both before and during the pandemic. With the likelihood of future waves of COVID-19 and related restrictions, it must be a public health priority to address the root causes of loneliness and social isolation and, in particular, address the needs of specific groups such as carers or those living alone.

Using a qualitative approach, this article examines how the experiences of emotional loneliness are embedded in the everyday lives and relationships of older adults. Ten in-depth interviews were conducted in  with older people who reported feeling lonely, often or all the time, during a cohort study in southern Finland. The research reveals the multifaceted nature of loneliness and its causes. Behind emotional loneliness, we identified lost and unfulfilled relationships, involving the loss or lack of a partner, the absence of a meaningful friendship, complex parenthood and troubling childhood experiences. Most of the interviewees have faced loneliness that only began in old age, but for some, loneliness has been present for nearly a lifetime.

The article examines older people's perceptions of quality of life from the perspective of access and use of health and social care services. The data include focus group discussions with older people living alone. The data were analysed using thematic analysis focusing on the older people's collective views on health and social care services as supportive or restrictive factors for their quality of life. Two central themes were present in all the focus group discussions: the importance of accessing services and information regarding the services, and need for recognition within the services/by the professionals. Both themes were connected to the older people's desire to maintain autonomy in their everyday life despite increasing functional disabilities, which was seen as an important factor of quality of life. The older people felt that accessing and finding information about the services was difficult, and dependent on the professional's good will and the older person's own financial resources. Within the services, older people experienced a lack of recognition of their own personhood and individual needs. The participants felt that they were easily bypassed and left out of negotiations regarding their own care. The article highlights the importance of developing health and social care services and practices towards a more holistic approach recognising older people's individual needs.

Transfer from a private home to an assisted living facility has been pictured as a major change in an older person's life. Older people themselves tend to perceive the change as something eventual that breaks the bonds and familiarities of previous life. The aim of this article is to shed light on residents’ chances to reach affiliation (as Nussbaum defines it) in their new living surroundings, and thus adjust to that social environment. Based on ethnographical data gathered in a Finnish sheltered home in 2013–14, we studied residents’ affiliations through ruptures, namely residents’ perceived social isolation. Social isolation was found to be connected with two separate social worlds: the one inside the facility and the one outside. Social isolation resulted from different factors connected to the quality of social interaction with co-residents and the staff, daily routines of the institution and residents’ personal life histories. Also, residents’ older friends seemed to avoid visiting care facilities which caused perceived social isolation. This article deepens the insights into the perceived social isolation of assisted living and thus helps care providers to create new strategies to enable due affiliation for their residents.