Loneliness in Austria: Caritas alarmed in front of Blue Monday!

Loneliness in Austria: Caritas alarmed in front of Blue Monday!

Wien, Österreich - Vienna, January 17, 2025-on the occasion of the upcoming "Blue Monday", the sad-at-all on Monday of the year, Caritas draws attention to the alarming increase in loneliness in Austria. According to a current study by Caritas, more than 600,000 people in Austria feel lonely over half of their time. Caritas director Klaus Schwertner explains that loneliness is a "need of our time" and often does not find the attention that she deserves. Especially people with low incomes are affected because they have to restrict their social contacts due to the increasing living costs, as Caritas emphasized in a press release.

initiatives against loneliness

In order to counteract the problem of loneliness, Caritas has launched the "chat network". Over 55,000 talks have been held since the project in April 2020, with increasing demand in 2024. Currently, around 4,100 volunteers are involved as chat partners who can be reached on 05 1776 100. In addition, the chat network has achieved a remarkable reach by working with Magenta by combining callers with volunteers who are open. "Loneliness makes you sick," emphasizes Schwertner, and the Covid 19 pandemic has also tightened the problem.

Due to the great successes of the chat network, Caritas intends to promote new forms of living for community living and to further expand opportunities for meeting such as the over 100 Plauderberl and the 40 heat rooms. These initiatives are geared to improve social exchange and to integrate people back into society. According to the Schwertner, the federal government, the federal states and municipalities as well as civil society have to work closely together in order to effectively combat loneliness and create offers that are easier to access.

More about the alarming loneliness figures and the initiatives of Caritas against loneliness can be found on Kathpress and Caritas Vienna.