Table 7 Physical pain and loneliness across sexes and age groups in 139 countries, 2023 and 2024. Binary logistic regressions.

	Dependent variable: physical pain (0–1)
	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)
Loneliness – yes	2.020^*** (0.041)	1.845^*** (0.037)	1.239^*** (0.022)	2.003^*** (0.074)	1.900^*** (0.068)	1.107^** (0.036)
Female	1.216^*** (0.020)	1.214^*** (0.020)	1.144^*** (0.018)	1.246^*** (0.020)	1.240^*** (0.020)	1.162^*** (0.017)
Loneliness – yes x female	1.101^*** (0.025)	1.088^*** (0.025)	1.062^* (0.025)	-	-	-
Age	1.032^*** (0.002)	1.021^*** (0.002)	1.023^*** (0.002)	1.031^*** (0.002)	1.021^*** (0.002)	1.022^*** (0.002)
Loneliness – yes x age	1.032^*** (0.002)	1.021^*** (0.002)	1.023^*** (0.002)	1.031^*** (0.002)	1.021^*** (0.002)	1.022^*** (0.002)
Loneliness – yes x age	-	-	-	1.001^* (0.001)	1.000 (0.001)	1.003^*** (0.001)
Health problems – yes	-	3.397^*** (0.089)	-	-	3.397^*** (0.089)	-
Distress	-	-	8.550^*** (0.272)	-	-	8.574^*** (0.274)
Country fixed effects	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
N	256,760	256,760	256,760	256,760	256,760	256,760
Pseudo R²	0.096	0.137	0.157	0.096	0.137	0.157

^* p < 0.05, ^** p < 0.01, ^*** p < 0.001. Models show Odd Ratios (OR) from binary logistic regressions with standard errors clustered by country in parentheses. OR greater than 1 represent a positive relationship. OR smaller than 1 represent negative relationships. Mean physical pain = 0.35. Personal characteristics: Sex, age, age squared, marital status, level of education, employment status, log of personal income, and number of children under 15 in the household. Models 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 represent different regression models to be read vertically. All models account for having friends and relatives to count on and satisfaction with opportunities to meet people. Full models can be found in Table S.8.

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