Percentage of persons aged 15 years and over by frequency with which they feel lonely, by gender, for Canada, regions and provinces.

A survey from 2021 of over 23,000 people from 28 different countries found that 33 percent stated they often, always, or sometimes felt lonely. This share was slightly higher among parents of children aged 0 to 5 years. This statistic shows the percentage of adults worldwide who often/always/sometimes/hardly ever/or never felt lonely as of 2021.

Percentage of persons aged 15 years and over by frequency with which they feel lonely, by gender and other selected sociodemographic characteristics: age group; immigrant status; visible minority group; Indigenous identity; persons with a disability, difficulty or long-term condition; LGBTQ2+ people; highest certificate, diploma or degree; main activity; and urban and rural areas.

Comprehensive dataset on loneliness statistics, health impacts, and demographic breakdowns

A survey from 2021 of over 23,000 people from 28 different countries found that 41 percent stated they felt more lonely in the last six months. Turkey and Brazil were the countries with the highest share of people who said they felt more lonely in the last six months prior to the survey. This statistic shows the percentage of adults worldwide who stated over the last six months they became more or less lonely as of 2021, by country.

A survey conducted in March 2021 among U.S. adults found that around 21 percent reported feeling lonely a few times a month since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Women were more likely than men to report feeling lonely since the pandemic began. This statistic shows the percentage of adults in the United States who felt lonely with select frequency since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic as of March 2021, by gender.

Personal well-being, loneliness and what people in Great Britain felt were important issues; indicators from the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN).

A survey conducted in March 2021 among U.S. adults found that around 22 percent reported feeling lonely a few times a month before the COVID-19 pandemic. In the Midwest, around 23 percent of adults stated they felt lonely a few times a month before the COVID-19 pandemic. This statistic shows the percentage of adults in the United States who felt lonely with select frequency before the COVID-19 pandemic as of March 2021, by region.

Young adults between the ages of 18-24 are the loneliest age-group in the UK and other Western countries yet little is known about the causes and experiences of their loneliness. In particular, young adults of lower socio-economic status (SES) living in the most deprived areas are loneliest in the United Kingdom. Therefore, the aim of the data collected included exploring the causes and experiences of loneliness in young adults with these qualities and circumstances from their own perspective (part 1). The data also includes exploration of how these young adults conceptualise and experience their neighbourhood and how they impact upon their loneliness and social connectedness (part 2). This is qualitative data collected from forty-eight participants between June and August 2019 from 48 participants. A recruitment agency was employed to access the quota sample required. Participants were living in/recruited from four of the most deprived boroughs of London, UK: Newham (n = 16), Hackney (n = 16), Tower Hamlets (n = 16), and Barking & Dagenham (n = 16). There were two parts to the study. Part 1 included the free association task, in which participants were first presented with a piece of paper that contained a grid of four empty boxes and asked to express what they associated with “the experience of loneliness” by way of images and/or words. They were further instructed to elaborate one image/idea per box. After completion of the free association task, participants were asked to elaborate on the content of each box, in turn, in an interview. This started with “can we talk about what you have put in box 1, please?” Prompts such as “can you tell me more about that?” were used to ensure thoughts and feelings about the experience of loneliness were fully explored and emerged naturalistically without injection of content via researcher questioning. The interviews lasted for an average of 60 min. Most interviews took place at the participants’ homes though some at a local café, park or similar places if home was not an option. As for part 2, which was immediately after part 1, participants were asked to write or draw one place in their neighbourhood where they feel most socially connected and one where they feel most lonely. Beneath each of the two places they were further instructed to write what it is about that place that makes them feel the way they do. Participants were then asked to elaborate on the content of the association they had produced in an interview. This began with “can we talk about what you’ve put in box one (for the most socially connected place), please?” Prompts including “can you tell me more about that?” and “how does that make you feel in this space?” were used to ensure respondents’ thoughts and feelings about their chosen places were fully explored and emerged naturalistically without input from the researcher questioning. The same process ensued for the second box asking about the loneliest place. Each interview lasted between 20 and 30 minutes. The corresponding image/output for each participant for both parts 1 and 2 is presented.

WBA44 - Feeling Lonely. Published by Central Statistics Office. Available under the license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY-4.0).Feeling Lonely...

A 2022 survey conducted in 16 countries found that feelings of loneliness tend to decrease with age. That year, nearly 60 percent of young adults between 18 and 24 years reported negative effects on wellbeing from feelings of loneliness, while around 22 percent of respondents aged 65 and older reported the same. This statistic shows the percentage of people worldwide who reported negative effects on wellbeing from feelings of loneliness in 2022, by age group.

Analysis of loneliness in Great Britain during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic from the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey.

Timeseries data from 'Lonely' (boem_ahmd_lonely)

A survey conducted in March 2021 among U.S. adults found that around 36 percent reported feeling more lonely than usual since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Women were more likely than men to report feeling more lonely since the pandemic began. This statistic shows the percentage of adults in the United States who felt more or less lonely than usual since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic as of March 2021, by gender.

This statistic shows the percentage of people engaging in specific coping behaviors when they feel lonely or socially isolated in the U.S. as of 2018. Among those reporting loneliness and social isolation, 78 percent indicated that they almost always or sometimes distract themselves with TV, computer, or video games when they are feeling lonely.

IntroductionLoneliness has social and health implications. The aim of this article is to evaluate the association of loneliness with all-cause mortality.MethodsPubmed, PsycINFO, CINAHL and Scopus databases were searched through June 2016 for published articles that measured loneliness and mortality. The main characteristics and the effect size values of each article were extracted. Moreover, an evaluation of the quality of the articles included was also carried out. A meta-analysis was performed firstly with all the included articles and secondly separating by gender, using a random effects model.ResultsA total of 35 articles involving 77220 participants were included in the systematic review. Loneliness is a risk factor for all-cause mortality [pooled HR = 1.22, 95% CI = (1.10, 1.35), p < 0.001] for both genders together, and for women [pooled HR = 1.26, 95% CI = (1.07, 1.48); p = 0.005] and men [pooled HR = 1.44; 95% CI = (1.19, 1.76); p < 0.001] separately.ConclusionsLoneliness shows a harmful effect for all-cause mortality and this effect is slightly stronger in men than in women. Moreover, the impact of loneliness was independent from the quality evaluation of each article and the effect of depression.

These small area model-based estimates of subjective loneliness have been produced by Age UK, for people aged 65 and over at Borough level and middle and lower super output areas (MSOA/LSOA) in London. They are calculated using a model based method using a combination of data from the English Longitudinal Survey of Ageing (ELSA) from 2010-12 and small area Census data from 2011. Further details of the methodology can be found at Age UK. The different measures included in the data are 1. The ‘log odds’ of the risk of loneliness among older people 2. The estimated prevalence of loneliness among older people 3. The area ranking for London of the relative risk of loneliness among older people 4. The area ranking for England of the relative risk of loneliness among older people Background notes: 1. Prevalence estimates: these estimates of prevalence are based on characteristics significantly associated with loneliness which could be estimated at small area level from 2011 Census data. Not all characteristics could be measured from the Census and so these estimates underestimate the true level of loneliness based on national survey and regular polling data. They are designed to be used to examine variation between areas rather than as a true estimate of the prevalence of loneliness in a given area 2. LSOA: Care needs to be taken when using estimates based on LSOA estimates due to other potential confounding factors such as communal establishment within the area such as care homes, hospitals, hospices etc. The risk factors were based on a survey of domestic rather than communal establishments only 3. The main aim of the modelling was to produce small area estimates which are not available for other sources. Borough level estimates are included for context, but alternative estimates at this level may give a more accurate assessment of prevalence A map of the MSOA data can be viewed on the Datastore.Source: Office for National Statistics

A survey conducted in March 2021 among U.S. adults found that around 36 percent reported feeling more lonely than usual since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Those aged 18 to 34 years were most likely to report feeling more lonely since the pandemic began. This statistic shows the percentage of adults in the United States who felt more or less lonely than usual since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic as of March 2021, by age.

This table contains 696 series, with data for years 1990 - 1998 (not all combinations necessarily have data for all years), and was last released on 2007-01-29. This table contains data described by the following dimensions (Not all combinations are available): Geography (30 items: Austria; Belgium (Flemish speaking); Belgium (French speaking); Belgium ...), Sex (2 items: Males; Females ...), Age group (3 items: 11 years;13 years;15 years ...), Response (4 items: Very often; Sometimes; Never; Rather often ...).