70% of Dutch people experience contact poverty

While sending online messages seems to make our lives easier, recent research also reveals another side of contact poverty, the lack of human contact. 70% of Dutch people surveyed in January indicate that they themselves sometimes experience contact poverty. Previous data, collected in the run-up to January as the Mooiste Contact Month, paints a disturbing picture of how fleeting and distant social interactions have become.

A majority of respondents (51%) prefer texting to calling. At the same time, almost half of respondents (47.5%) acknowledge that a phone call or visit would often have been better than sending a message. Furthermore, research shows that a third of Dutch people have days when they do not speak to anyone in person. Some 30% consider their social contacts to be insufficient. These trends are worrying because a lack of contact can be a precursor to loneliness.

The human need for real contact
More than 15% of respondents pick up the phone less than once a month to call a loved one. 1 in 4 people think they receive too few visits, and this percentage is slightly higher for people aged 30 to 50. 30% dare to say more via a message (via email, WhatsApp or other apps) than in a personal conversation. A large majority of respondents agree with the statement that they make and receive fewer calls due to the advent of smartphones. And more than half of people find it difficult to start a conversation with someone who is busy with their smartphone. However, the figures also show that there is a need for conscious human contact. More than 45% of people want to invest more in real conversations and visits in 2025, a promising step towards breaking the poverty of contact.

Most Beautiful Contact Month
This research was conducted in the context of the Mooiste Contact Month. This month is intended to make people aware of the fact that they can take action themselves to reduce contact poverty, for example by stopping scrolling for a moment and making personal contact through a phone call or visit. The month is an initiative of the KPN Mooiste Contact Fonds; an independent foundation that has been committed to strengthening social contact since 2007. Together with social partners, the fund uses technology, people and resources to support vulnerable groups and create meaningful connections. The fund takes initiatives that connect people with the world around them, such as KlasseContact, which brings seriously ill children who are unable to go to school back into contact with the classroom.