Younger American men lonelier than counterparts in other nations: Gallup
A new study suggests young American men are lonelier than their counterparts in other nations.
One in four U.S. men under age 35 report feeling lonely, according to compiled data released Tuesday by Gallup. Overall, 25 percent of men in the U.S. said they experience bouts of loneliness in the day prior to completing the survey.
The number was 10 percentage points higher than their counterparts in 38 mostly higher-income, democratic countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD).
The median for OECD respondents in the 15-35 age bracket was 15 percent respectively.
Comparatively, the U.S. men felt loneliness at 7 percentage points higher than the responses recorded by U.S. women in the same age bracket.
However, statistics show at least one in five younger men across the world say they feel lonely.
Respondents in Turkey ranked the highest for feelings related to emotional isolation at 29 percent, followed by France at 24 percent, Ireland at 23 percent and Canada 22 percent.
While 20 percent of young men in Luxembourg, Australia and New Zealand said they feel lonely during large portions of the day.
Gallup based their findings on aggregated data from 2023 and 2024.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
8 hours ago
- The Hill
Thanks to imported drugs, America has lost control of its medicine cabinet
America is facing a growing crisis in its medical system — not from a lack of talent or innovation, but from a breakdown in the control, safety and supply of essential medicines. Our growing reliance on imports is now driving serious drug shortages, destabilizing supply chains and increasingly making medications unsafe. At the root of it is a hard truth: We no longer have control of the medicines we depend on every day. In 2002, America manufactured 83.7 percent of the pharmaceuticals it consumed. By 2024, that number had dropped to just 37.1 percent. Meanwhile, the U.S. pharmaceutical trade deficit has soared, reaching a record $118.3 billion in 2024. We didn't just outsource manufacturing — we outsourced the sovereignty and safety of our health care system. This means that nearly two-thirds of America's pharmaceutical supplies are now imported. Most critical medications, such as generic drugs, now come from China and India. China controls 80 to 90 percent of the global supply of active pharmaceutical ingredients — the chemical building blocks of modern medicine. Even drugs labeled 'Made in the USA' often chemically originate in China. And India, which produces about half of America's finished generic drugs, relies on China for up to 80 percent of its active pharmaceutical not a supply chain — it's a ticking time something goes wrong, American patients suffer. In 2023, the Food and Drug Administration shut down a single Indian plant responsible for 50 percent of the U.S. supply of cisplatin, a critical chemotherapy drug, after uncovering a 'cascade of failure' in safety practices and shredded documents soaked in acid. With no domestic backup, patients nationwide had their treatments delayed. That wasn't a fluke. 40 percent of U.S. generic drugs have only one FDA-approved manufacturer. Because of that single chokepoint, when one factory fails, the whole system can crack. We are now seeing widespread drug shortages across the medical system. Hospital pharmacists report an average of 301 critical drug shortages at any given time. And 85 percent say these shortages are moderately or critically affecting care. Doctors often lack crucial medicines such as antibiotics, sedatives and cancer drugs. These aren't obscure drugs. They're foundational medicines. But America no longer makes them. Even when imported drugs do arrive, they're not always safe. A 2025 study found that Indian generics are 54 percent more likely to cause serious side effects than their U.S.-made counterparts. Indian factory violations have also been tied to at least eight U.S. patient deaths. China's record is equally disturbing. In 2008, dozens of Americans died after receiving contaminated heparin from Chinese suppliers. This isn't what the American people want. In a national survey, 85 percent of hospital pharmacists said they would pay more for safer generics. But under today's rules, price overshadows quality. Hospitals have little oversight of drug quality — and foreign producers face few consequences for cutting corners. Even the federal government is flying blind. A 2023 Department of Defense review found that 22 percent of essential military-use drugs had unknown ingredient sourcing. That's a national security April, the Trump administration took a necessary step by launching an investigation into generic pharmaceutical imports that correctly frames the issue as a national security threat. But that recognition alone isn't enough. To address this crisis, Washington should impose targeted tariffs on generic drugs from adversarial nations. It must also rebuild domestic pharmaceutical production through tax credits and long-term contracts. America urgently needs full transparency in drug labeling to disclose where drugs and their ingredients are made. The FDA must step up — with stronger enforcement abroad and a ban on imports from repeat safety violators. And to secure critical ingredients during market disruptions, Washington must pursue a long-term vision that includes a 'strategic pharmaceutical reserve.' This isn't just protectionism. It's a restoration of America's medical security. No nation can call itself sovereign if it can't produce its own medicines, and no patient is safe if their health care depends on quality control in a factory 8,000 miles decades, we were told that offshoring production would make things cheaper, smoother and more efficient. But America can no longer depend on unstable foreign suppliers. It's time to restore our pharmaceutical independence and take back control of our medicine cabinet. Andrew Rechenberg is an economist at the Coalition for a Prosperous America.
Forbes
a day ago
- Forbes
The Triple Threat Draining Workforce Productivity And Mental Health
Productivity and mental health are taking a hit for three reasons. Numbers never lie: it's why CEOs obsess over revenue targets, operational metrics, quarterly growth, and more. Yet beneath the spreadsheets and data dashboards lies an invisible crisis quietly eroding organizational strength and productivity: the deteriorating mental health and emotional resilience of today's workforce. A comprehensive 2025 State of the Workforce Report by meQuilibrium, surveying 5,477 employees across various industries, identified a troublesome "triple threat" that undermines employee performance and well-being: uncertainty, pessimism, and psychological disconnection. These aren't mere HR concerns; they're operational risks with quantifiable financial impacts. The data paints a clear picture: These challenges are silently sabotaging productivity, further inflating turnover costs, and increasingly impacting employee well-being. The Real Cost Of The Triple Threat Uncertainty alone led to a 68% increase in productivity impairment. Employees facing high uncertainty stress experience twice the risk of generalized anxiety disorders and nearly double the rate of burnout, costing American companies between $4,000 and $21,000 per employee annually, according to a study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Pessimism compounds this impact significantly. Workers with negative job outlooks report a 64% decrease in productivity, alongside a staggering 128% higher risk of depression and 108% higher risk of anxiety compared to optimistic colleagues. The psychological disconnect further exacerbates productivity losses. Even employees displaying no signs of disconnect report an average productivity impairment of 29%, while severely disconnected employees experience impairment rates of up to 66%. This triple threat isn't fleeting; it's systemic and escalating, making employee mental health and emotional resilience one of your organization's significant, yet often overlooked, financial liabilities. Foundational Strategies To Improve Productivity And Mental Health A company thrives when its people thrive. Amid volatility and continuous disruptions, the greatest threat to any organization is a workforce characterized by stress, negativity, disengagement, and poor health. However, this crisis presents opportunities to cultivate resilience and strength. While each company is unique, these foundational actions can universally elevate employee well-being and productivity: Fitness offers more than aesthetics. It's a strategic investment. CEOs like Bob Iger strongly advocate for fitness because it improves their mood, focus, emotional regulation, executive presence, and resilience. To build a health-driven culture, leaders must actively model wellness practices. Sleep is equally critical. Improved sleep and recovery improve individuals' decision-making and emotional regulation and reduce team volatility. Prioritizing a health-first culture also serves as a strong talent attractor and retention tool. Ambiguity breeds stress, especially with technological disruptions like AI, which create concerns about job stability. Clear and consistent communication significantly mitigates uncertainty. Leaders must frequently reiterate their vision in a way that integrates each person seamlessly. Also key is establishing priorities and performance expectations along with transparency in explaining the rationale behind decisions. Vulnerability and candor strengthen trust, which further reduces speculation and disengagement among employees and investors alike. Soft skills matter significantly, even in the data-driven corporate world. As highlighted in the report, empathetic managers reduce uncertainty stress by 37% and disconnect by nearly 50%. CEOs and senior leaders can actively cultivate empathy through the following: Better Mental Well-Being Equals Improved Productivity Addressing the triple threat isn't merely beneficial—it's critical. The modern workforce faces numerous challenges that threaten employees' mental health and productivity. With ongoing volatility and persistent uncertainty, investing in mental health and resilience becomes not just advantageous but essential. As technology democratizes and ceases to offer unique competitive advantages, the companies that will lead tomorrow are those who invest significantly in their people's well-being today.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Pandemic preparedness ‘dramatically eroding' under Trump, experts say
Amid controversial dismissals for independent advisers and staff at health agencies, alongside lackluster responses to the bird flu and measles outbreaks, experts fear the US is now in worse shape to respond to a pandemic than before 2020. H5N1, which has received less attention under the Trump administration than from Biden's team, is not the only influenza virus or even the only variant of bird flu with the potential to spark a pandemic. But a subpar response to the ongoing US outbreak signals a larger issue: America is not ready for whatever pathogen will sweep through next. 'We have not even remotely maintained the level of pandemic preparedness – which needed a lot of work, as we saw from the Covid pandemic,' said Angela Rasmussen, an American virologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada. 'But now, we essentially have no pandemic preparedness.' Related: Bird flu reinfections at US poultry farms highlight need for vaccines, experts say 'I'm concerned on a number of fronts,' said Jennifer Nuzzo, professor of epidemiology and director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University School of Public Health. Those concerns include a lack of quality information from officials, weakened virus monitoring systems, and public health reductions at the federal, state and local levels. 'The thing that I am most concerned about is the veracity of information coming out of the health agencies,' Nuzzo said. In the ongoing outbreaks of measles, for example, Robert F Kennedy Jr, the secretary of health and human services, has downplayed the severity of the disease, spread misinformation about the highly effective vaccine to prevent measles, and pushed unproven treatments. 'The communications on measles gives me deep worries about what would happen in a pandemic,' Nuzzo said. 'If a pandemic were to occur today, the only thing we would have to protect ourselves on day one would be information.' The H5N1 outbreak has been plagued by incomplete information, an issue that began in the Biden administration but has amplified under Trump. In Arizona, 6 million chickens were killed or culled at a Hickman's Family Farms location because of H5N1 in May. That's about 95% of the company's hen population in the state. Hundreds of workers, including inmate laborers, are now being dismissed as Arizona braces for egg shortages. We're not testing – it's not that there are no new cases Angela Rasmussen Yet even as H5N1 outbreaks continue to spread on farms and wreak havoc on the food supply, no new bird flu cases have been reported in people for months. 'I am concerned that we may not be finding new infections in humans,' Nuzzo said – and a lack of testing may be the culprit. 'We're not testing – it's not that there are no new cases,' Rassmussen said. The last bird flu case in a person was listed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on 23 February. At that point, at least 830 people in the US had been tested after contact with sick animals. This kind of testing – monitoring the health of people who regularly work with H5N1-infected animals – is how the vast majority of cases (64 out of 70) have been found in this outbreak. But then, several CDC officials overseeing the bird flu response were fired on 1 April. Since then, only about 50 people in the US have been tested after exposure to sick animals – and no positive cases have been announced. It's also been difficult to understand the extent of the outbreak and how the virus spreads among animals. 'We still just don't have a good picture of the scope and scale of this outbreak – we never really have. And until we have that, we're not going to be able to contain it,' Rasmussen said. 'It's extremely bad,' she continued. 'We don't have any information about what's happening right now. The next pandemic could be starting, and we just don't know where that's happening, and we don't have any ability to find out.' We're seeing health departments scrambling. That infrastructure is just dramatically eroding Jennifer Nuzzo Huge reductions in the public health workforce and resources has led to less monitoring of outbreaks, known as disease surveillance. 'Cutting back on that surveillance is leaving us more in the dark,' Nuzzo said. The CDC clawed back $11.4bn in Covid funding in March. This funding was used to monitor, test, vaccinate and otherwise respond to public health issues at the state, local, territorial and tribal level. 'We're seeing health departments scrambling,' Nuzzo said. 'That infrastructure is just dramatically eroding.' International monitoring programs to address outbreaks before they expand across borders have also been cancelled. 'We have taken for granted all of those protections, and I fear that we are poised to see the consequences,' Nuzzo said. Trump's crackdown on immigration also poses a major challenge in detecting cases and treating patients during outbreaks. 'A lot of the people who are most at risk are strongly disincentivized to report any cases, given that many of them are undocumented or are not US citizens,' Rasmussen said. 'Nobody wants to go get tested if they're going to end up in an Ice detention facility.' When cases are not detected, that means patients are not able to access care. Although it's rare for people to become sick with H5N1, for instance – the virus is still primarily an avian, not a human, influenza – this variant of bird flu has a 52% mortality rate globally among people with known infections. Allowing a deadly virus to spread and mutate under the radar has troubling implications for its ability to change into a human influenza without anyone knowing. And if such changes were detected, widening gaps in communication could be the next hurdle for preventing a pandemic, Nuzzo said. 'Communication is our most important public health intervention. People, in order to be able to know how to protect themselves, need to have access to facts, and they need to believe in the messengers. And the communication around the measles outbreaks are deeply eroding our standing with the American people.' Even stockpiled vaccines and other protective measures, like personal protective equipment, take time to distribute, Nuzzo added. 'And flu is a fast-moving disease that could cause a lot of damage in the months it would take to mount a vaccination campaign.' The US government's cancellation of its $766m contract with Moderna to research and develop an H5N1 vaccine also signals a concerning strategy from health officials, Nuzzo and Rasmussen said. Other restrictions on vaccine development, like a new plan to test all vaccines against saline placebos, is 'going to make it extremely difficult to approve any new vaccine' and would 'have a devastating impact on our ability to respond to a potential pandemic', Rasmussen said – especially in a rapidly moving pandemic where speed matters. 'You don't have time for that if this virus causes a human-to–human outbreak,' Rasmussen said. All of these policies mean the US is less prepared for a pandemic than it was in 2020, she said. And it also means there will be preventable suffering now, even before the next big one strikes. 'We are actively making people less safe, less healthy and more dead,' Rasmussen said.
