many self-employed people, and he had to readjust. He talks openly about his loneliness and many of his friends and acquaintances being fellow divorcees. Life has become tougher for the baby-boomer generation. Even highly educated people are suddenly having to rely on income support. “People at my age don’t want to be single,” says Gottfried. They don’t want to be alone, but neither do they want to give up their independence or high standard of living. This is a contradiction. “So everyone stays lonely. They think life goes on for forever.” Gottfried would like to meet someone like-minded of the opposite sex and believes it has become harder for men and women to connect. “I no longer have the confidence to catch a woman’s eye, let alone start talking to her.” Ways to meet are few and far between for 60 somethings, though Tinder is one of them. “I know a lot of women who have a profile on Tinder,” he says, “but talking to them about loneliness would be a step too far in real life.” On the whole, Gottfried thinks that his quality of life has deteriorated without a partner. her apartment for the last six years after previously spending most of her life elsewhere in the Iselin district, in a house built by her grandfather in 1902. She is still in contact with her old neighbours. Cantonal measures The proportion of one-person households in Basel-Stadt increased from 21 per cent in 1960 to some 45 per cent in 1990. It is set to climb to over 50 per cent by 2050. “There are ways to measure social isolation, but quantifying loneliness is difficult,” says Lukas Ott, head of the Office of Cantonal and City Development in Basel-Stadt. Ott is responsible for implementing a motion that was submitted in the Basel-Stadt cantonal parliament by the SP politician Pascal Pfister in 2023. Some 150,000 Swiss francs is due to be set aside for voluntary projects from 2025 onwards as part of a cantonal strategy to combat loneliness. “Basel-Stadt needs to offer new ways for people to come together,” stresses Ott, aware that the city canton has a large number of elderly people, hospitals, and care homes. In 2023, the canton sent a letter to all elderly people living alone. The letter contained two phone numbers – one offering information on ways to meet other elderly people in Basel (“Info älter werden”), the other providing simple conversation and support for lonely people (“Mein Ohr für dich”). Loneliness not only affects the elderly. A third of all one-person households in Basel-Stadt comprise people aged between 20 and 40. Young people are more mobile and more connected with other people than they used to be, says Ott. But their relationships with each other are more fragile. “The quality and depth of connection matters.” Social isolation is a difficult subject. “We know of the effect it has on the elderly, but we find it hard to accept that younger people can feel lonely.” Baby-boomer blues We chat to Gottfried* on the phone. The 60-year-old has two grown-up children. He and his wife have been living apart for the last 10 years or so. Gottfried has a background in culture. Work dried up during Covid-19 for The Tinguely Fountain in Basel Photo: Keystone “Life is good,” says Esther Jeanine Zehntner, pictured here in her Basel apartment. She has always lived on her own. Photo: Stéphane Herzog Higher, farther, faster, more beautiful? In search of somewhat unconventional Swiss records This edition: Basel – the city with the highest proportion of one-person households in Switzerland Swiss Review / January 2025 / No.1 21
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