Minister of Loneliness
What the UK’s policy on loneliness has achieved, what Germany has done so far, and what this comparison reveals about the political seriousness with which the issue is being treated.
In January 2018, the United Kingdom did something that seemed strange to many at the time: it appointed a Minister for Loneliness.
Tracey Crouch was appointed the world’s first Minister for Loneliness—in addition to her portfolio for Sport and Civil Society. Prime Minister Theresa May’s decision was a response to a study showing that more than nine million Britons regularly felt lonely. The media reaction was generally skeptical. It sounded like tokenism.
Six years later, the picture is more nuanced.
“In 2018, the United Kingdomappointed a Minister for Loneliness. What seemed like symbolic politics at the time was actually something else.”
What the UK actually did
In October 2018, the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport developed a national strategy titled *A Connected Society*. It included concrete measures: a standardized national loneliness measurement method (based on a direct question and the UCLA Loneliness Scale), an interdepartmental ministerial committee comprising nine departments, the so-called Building Connections Fund with £11.5 million for local projects, and a public destigmatization campaign under the slogan “Let’s Talk Loneliness.”
The funded projects included new transportation services for people with limited mobility, digital connectivity services for older Britons, and a £1 million “Tech to Connect” innovation fund. During the COVID-19 pandemic, an additional £24 million was invested directly in loneliness prevention.
Was that a solution? No. The latest annual reports from the UK’s DCMS are self-critical: loneliness remains widespread, the effects of many measures are difficult to measure, and the challenge is bigger than a single ministerial portfolio. But the issue now has a designated body. There is political accountability, a national dataset, interagency coordination, and a public debate that did not exist before.
Japan and others
The United Kingdom was not alone. In February 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and alarmed by sharply rising suicide rates, Japan appointed its first Minister for Loneliness: Tetsushi Sakamoto. The official title was “Minister for Issues Related to Isolation and Loneliness”—a title that reflects the gravity of Japan’s kodokushi phenomenon: lonely deaths, where bodies are often not discovered until weeks after the person has died.
Since then, Australia and other European countries have been discussing similar institutions. The question is no longer merely academic.
What Germany has been doing so far
Germany is more reserved in this regard. There is no Ministry of Loneliness, nor is there a federal commissioner for loneliness.
What’s available: the Competence Network on Loneliness (KNE), which was founded in 2022 on the initiative of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs and is intended to bring together research, practice, and policy. There are approximately 530 publicly funded multigenerational housing projects nationwide. There is Silbernetz in Berlin, a volunteer-run telephone support initiative. There is the BMFSFJ’s “Ways Out of Loneliness” program, co-financed by the European Social Fund.
These initiatives are well-intentioned and, in some cases, effective. However, they are predominantly local, volunteer-driven, difficult to scale, and structurally unable to address the problem systematically. There is no national database, no overarching strategy, and no political body that treats loneliness as a distinct health risk.
Loneliness researcher Susanne Bücker put it succinctly: A federal loneliness commissioner would give the issue a
" Provide the address and house number." Without that, it remains a minor issue in an already packed political calendar.
“Afederal loneliness commissionerwould give the issue a ‘specific address.’ Without that, it remains a marginal issue.”
What the comparison shows
The comparison between the United Kingdom and Germany is not a criticism. It is an assessment of the current situation.
Both countries face the same problem: a growing elderly population, shrinking informal networks, and a care system that structurally fails to address social isolation. The United Kingdom has decided to treat loneliness as a policy priority. Germany treats it as a social challenge that should be left to others to address.
The difference isn’t the number of services available. The question is whether the government views loneliness as a health risk that requires systematic prevention—or as a personal fate that should be managed as best as possible.
In 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General declared loneliness a public health crisis, comparing it to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. It remains to be seen whether Germany will follow this assessment politically.
References
UK Government. (2018). A Connected Society: A Strategy for Tackling Loneliness. Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
UK DCMS. (2023). Annual Report on Loneliness. GOV.UK.
Research Service of the German Bundestag. (2021). Combating Loneliness in the United Kingdom. WD-9-026-21.
Business Insider Germany. (2022). The Federal Ministry for Family Affairs is planning a strategy to combat loneliness.
LegalClarity. (2025). Which Countries Have a Minister of Loneliness?
U.S. Surgeon General. (2023). Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation. Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection.
Competence Network on Loneliness (KNE). www.einsamkeit.de
