A study commissioned by the charitable organisation’s Auckland branch found 59% of people surveyed had felt lonely or socially isolated – 30% of whom experienced those feelings often or always.
Moebus said it was a familiar story across the region. A lot of the time older people moved north to be with family, only to have whānau leave the area.
Medical problems, lack of transport and age prevented older Northlanders from connecting with others.
Victoria University professor emeritus Dr Philip Morrison, an expert in loneliness across ages, said there was a strong relationship between loneliness and income.
“Loneliness rises as income falls.”
That’s a concern for Northland, given an NZIER report released this year showed the region’s median income at $378 per week in 2023 was the lowest in New Zealand.
Morrison said people without a disposable income often turned down social invitations, such as going for a coffee.
Income, health and transport are some of the barriers to social connection for older people.
Moebus said the more people went without contact, the more they regressed.
“Then when they do get to see people, they don’t want to because it’s too hard.”
Or the situation is flipped and they don’t want their visitor to leave, Moebus said.
Loneliness among Northland’s older population is not new.
Companion driving service Driving Miss Daisy Whangārei spoke of a woman in her 90s who in 2016 had not left her home in three years as she had no family and kept to herself.
They shared that all she wanted to do was see Whangārei’s iconic lifting bridge, Te Matau a Pohe, and buy clothes.
Moebus said people can still be lonely even when they’re surrounded by others, including family.
“It’s about how we connect with others.”
Morrison said there were different types of loneliness: emotional and social.
Emotional loneliness is where the person does not have a close partner, whereas social loneliness is how connected someone is to a social network.
Elderly people tended to suffer emotional loneliness after the death of a partner, Morrison said.
Moebus spoke of an elderly Far North man whose partner had died, and he simply wanted someone to walk around Lake Ngatu with.
Morrison said research showed that men suffered more from loneliness after the death of a partner than women.
He believed that was because of the different ways men and women socialise. Women often have a wider group of friends, whereas men tend to keep a small pool of close mates.
“What that tells me is that men who have lost their partner probably do need special care,” Morrison said.
