Ageing has emerged as a major challenge in several developing societies. With falling fertility rates and increasing longevity as its main drivers, it is expected that by 2050, one in five people of the developing countries will be over 60 years of age. It is argued that on account of this, such societies would further encounter an increased demand for medical treatment, long-term care, financial and emotional support. They also are likely to face an enormous psychological burden. In the context of ageing, the article highlights some of the key issues and challenges encountered by the developing societies. Urbanisation, changing family structure and drifting intergenerational relationships are seen as factors that have led to a multitude of psychological problems like social isolation, loneliness, abuse and discrimination and depression in older adults. The article argues in support of health and other social protective measures and calls for the need to recognise the strengths of older adults with a view to integrate them into the mainstream.

The present study explores characteristics of the top 100 most-cited articles on loneliness. A systematic search was carried out using the Thomson Reuters Web of Science Core Collection to collect studies on loneliness from inception to June 1, 2022. The initial search resulted in 6,250 search results, which included articles, book chapters, conference proceedings, editorials, and letters. Two authors independently screened the literature and extracted the data. The study supervisor removed any discrepancies. Top 100 papers (articles and reviews) on loneliness published in English were extracted. Data analysis and visualization were performed on Excel, Web of Science (WoS) Data Analyzer, and VOSviewer 1.6.16. The total number of citations of the 100 top-cited articles was 42,044, ranging from 203 to 2,201 per article. All of the studies were published from 1989 to 2021, and the years with the highest number of top-cited articles published were 2003 and 2008. Most publications were from the following journals: Computers in Human Behavior, Developmental Psychology, Psychological Science, Psychology, and Aging (n=4 each). The most cited article was titled "UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3): Reliability, validity, and factor structure" by Russell, DW, in the Journal of Personality Assessment. The most productive institute was the University of Chicago. The two most productive authors were Cacioppo, JT, and Hawkley, LC. Of the 100 top-cited publications, 87 were original articles and 13 were reviews. The top three WoS categories were psychology multidisciplinary, gerontology, and psychiatry. In total, 37 author keywords were elicited and further clubbed into eight distinct clusters. The study provides new insight into loneliness research, which may help doctors, researchers, and stakeholders achieve a more comprehensive understanding of trends and influential contributions to the field and highlight under-researched areas, which could be the basis for future investigation.