Barcelona City Council has launched a city-wide pact to combat unwanted loneliness, six years after pioneering a municipal strategy on the issue. The initiative, announced by the PSC municipal government led by Mayor Jaume Collboni, brings together social entities, businesses, and citizens to work collaboratively.
This new pact seeks to address loneliness across all age groups, from older people living alone to young people and adolescents. According to 2025 data from the City Council, 23.8% of Barcelona residents over 16 years old report feeling lonely, with 5.9% experiencing it often and 17.8% sometimes.
Mayor Collboni emphasised the need to openly discuss loneliness and prevent it from becoming a taboo subject. He stated, "The woman who lives alone and receives no visits is as serious a case as the adolescent who has no one to talk to."
Addressing Digital Wellbeing and Workplace Loneliness
One of the pact's challenges is to promote the digital wellbeing of children, ensuring they use social media and digital platforms safely and responsibly, rather than as a refuge when feeling isolated. In the workplace, the initiative plans to create a guide for small and medium-sized enterprises, offering advice and recommendations on unwanted loneliness at work.
Regarding public spaces and urban planning, the Mayor advocates for "facilitating community life." He suggested that "something as simple as placing benches where people can gather breaks this sense of isolation."
The pact also aims to encourage interaction between different generations and promote volunteering as a tool to break the cycle of unwanted loneliness. This project is planned until 2030 and currently involves around twenty foundations, federations, and entities. These organisations, alongside the City Council, will implement the planned actions.
Key organisations within the pact's driving core include PIMEC, Sant Joan de Déu, the Official College of Psychology, the Education Consortium, Grup Focus, and the Public Health Agency of Barcelona. The broad participation shows a unified effort to tackle a growing social concern.
