Boosting connectedness and reducing loneliness for individual, community and societal wellbeing

Co-hosted by the OECD at the Wellbeing Economy Forum 2025

We are proud to welcome the OECD as a co-host of one of this year’s key sessions at the Wellbeing Economy Forum 2025 in Reykjavík: "Boosting connectedness and reducing loneliness for individual, community and societal wellbeing."

The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) is a forum and knowledge hub for data, analysis and best practices in public policy.

This important discussion will explore how connection, at personal, community, and systemic levels, is essential for human wellbeing and for building resilient, thriving societies.

Social connectedness is one of the most important drivers of overall wellbeing, determining levels of happiness and life satisfaction, and shaping mental and physical health, amongst many other individual, community, and societal outcomes. As such, social connections matter for a wide range of policy issues that are crucial for advancing people’s wellbeing, including improving public health, reducing inequalities and deprivation, increasing safety and community resilience, ensuring a human-centred digital transformation, and better understanding the drivers of democratic engagement and societal cohesion.

The session will be chaired by Romina Boarini, Director of the OECD’s Centre on Well-being, Inclusion, Sustainability and Equal Opportunity (WISE), a global leader in measuring what truly matters. Romina brings decades of experience developing wellbeing frameworks and advising governments on how to embed these values in policy. Her leadership has helped put social connection and belonging on the global agenda as critical dimensions of wellbeing.

Romania Boarini, OECD’s Centre on Well-being, Inclusion, Sustainability and Equal Opportunity

This session will bring together expert practitioner and high-level perspectives on this crucial topic, aiming to advance understanding and foster coordinated efforts to boost social connectedness and reduce loneliness at both national and sub-national level.

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The line-up for this session includes outstanding speakers:

·       Katarina Ivanković Knežević, Director for Social Rights and Inclusion in the Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion

·       Gabriela Ramos, Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences, UNESCO

·       Lourdes Márquez, Director for Partnerships and International Relations, ONCE Foundation, Spain (State Observatory of Loneliness)

·       Ilona Kickbusch, Founder, Global Health Centre, Graduate Institute, Geneva

·       Lucia Rodriguez-Borlado, Public Health Resident and Joint Action on Preventing Non-Communicable Disease Youth Advisory Group member

We look forward to a rich and forward-looking discussion on how fostering social connections can help shape a better future for all.