Why do we feel alone in a connected world? Inside the Allianz Sense of Community study

The Allianz Sense of Community study examines how belonging is lived, strained and rebuilt today. Allianz commissioned the research agency STURMundDRANG, which ran an online ethnography with participants in the U.S., Germany, Italy, Indonesia and Brazil over seven days of daily video diaries in 2026.

It is part of “ Power of Unity,” the multiyear Allianz program launched in November 2024 to counter the erosion of trust in societal institutions. Where the Allianz Social Resilience Index measures social resilience, this study asks how people experience it. The aim is to better understand how Allianz can support economic stability and prosperity for the benefit of our customers and society.

The main threat to community is not open polarization but withdrawal. In all five markets, people described stepping back from ordinary contact before any conflict happens.

The study calls this lost capability social confidence: the confidence in self, others and the system to enter, navigate, nurture and repair social life. It compares social confidence to a muscle that grows when trained, and is currently increasingly in atrophy.

The desire for community itself has not gone away. Participants still wanted belonging; what they had lost was the readiness to act on it. The study describes a vicious circle: guarded interactions produce less warmth, which confirms caution, so people withdraw further. This withdrawal often manifests as a retreat into customized digital or analog bubbles. By surrounding themselves only with like-minded people who confirm their existing views, individuals increasingly unlearn social confrontation. As a result, they lose not only trust, but the very practice required to navigate a debate, leaving the social muscle to atrophy even further.

All participant names are pseudonyms and ages are given as ranges to protect participants’ privacy.

The study points to three shifts. Daily life has become competitive and depleting, leaving little social bandwidth. Low-stakes public life is disappearing as pubs, squares, clubs and community centers close or start charging. And digital access has brought on a more judgmental culture, which lowers tolerance for friction offline.

Networks enable contact without creating bonds.

"We think we are hyperconnected...but in reality, we are increasingly alone." (Lorena, Italy, 30s)

Interaction feels less forgiving and harder to repair, so people self-censor.

"You have to be very careful what you say, how you say it, to whom you say it..." (Iris, Germany, 20s)

Community is weighed as give and take, and the fear of investing without being valued grows.

"They only contact me when they need something." (Rocco, Italy, 20s)

Being greeted, remembered or listened to carries more weight than before.

"When I see that the eyes smile... that’s when I feel something." (Hazar, Germany, 40s)

People draw the circle of belonging close to avoid confrontation.

"What we’re missing is that people sit down with people outside of their bubble." (Gael, Brazil, 20s)

The fourth belief is the opening. The same people who describe pulling back also want ordinary human contact more than they used to.

1. Contact is easy, local and repeatable. Repetition turns strangers into familiar others. 
2. People feel recognized, not just included. Small acts of recognition are the first proof that interaction is wanted. 
3. Difference does not threaten belonging, because tolerance is actively moderated. 
4. Contribution is mutual, so taking part means everyone gains. 

Each market keeps a cultural hook that still works: Vereinskultur and the barbecue in Germany, affinity- and purpose-based groups in the U.S., everyday recognition in Italy, dirangkul, or being embraced into the group, in Indonesia, and mutirão, coming together to solve a problem, in Brazil.

A high score on social resilience does not remove the daily experience of guardedness. Germany ranks eighth of 171 economies on the Allianz Social Resilience Index, and German participants still described watching what they say and to whom, and withdrawing from charged topics.

The study is direct about the limit: enable the conditions, do not own the community. Participants said institutional involvement is credible when it shows up before selling services and supports what already exists. It should also stay local and tangible, protect autonomy, and prove useful in daily life rather than only in emergencies.

That points to a role shift for Allianz, from protecting individuals after loss to enabling social confidence before withdrawal. The study proposes three areas of work, one for each dimension of social confidence.

1. Anchor people locally: low-stakes access to local spaces and shared rituals, where nobody has to spend money to be there.
2. Enable community hosts: support for the organizers, moderators and volunteers who hold communities together, so local leaders are more capable and less alone.
3. Build confidence to act together: everyday preparedness and hands-on shared action, so people feel able to shape what is coming.

• Make it repeatable: One recurring, low-effort meeting point beats one large event. 
• Remove the price of entry: Choose a setting where nobody has to buy anything to stay. 
• Recognize people by name: Being greeted or remembered is the first proof that interaction is wanted. 
• Give people a task, not only a conversation: Shared work is the way back for anyone who finds talking too exposed. 
• Support the host: Communities depend on the organizers, moderators and volunteers who keep showing up.