Lonely Nation Summary

Britain is a lonely nation. The government’s own statistics show that 2023/24 was the loneliest year on record. Polling for the CSJ reveals that nearly six in ten adults feel lonely most, often or some of the time.

This equates to 32 million people. Over one in five adults (22 per cent) feel existentially lonely, a fundamental separateness from other people and the wider world. Loneliness is a public health emergency. The effects of loneliness and social isolation have been shown comparable to smoking, obesity and physical inactivity. Loneliness is endemic and getting worse. It leaves lives marked by sadness and despair, without the fundamental relationships essential for true flourishing.

In addition to the human cost, loneliness is contributing to the Treasury’s financial black hole, costing the taxpayer billions of pounds. The cost to health and social care services of severe loneliness in older people is in excess of £6,000 per person. Researchers found that preventing loneliness could see savings of £3.6 million. The impact of loneliness on the workforce has been estimated to cost employers £2.5 billion per year (including health outcomes, depression and lost productivity). Other research has identified that the wellbeing, health and work productivity cost associated with severe loneliness is £9,900 per person per year.

These costs will only rise unless government acts on the root causes of the loneliness epidemic. This will require a refreshed loneliness strategy, resolutely focused on addressing four key areas: strengthening family relationships, tackling the acute causes of loneliness among older people, ensuring planning reform delivers good quality, well-designed communities, and responding to increasing poverty, particularly the relationship between loneliness and surging food bank use.

Politicians have often found it difficult to address these four areas due to their cultural sensitivities. Is the decline of family stability an unspoken cause of loneliness? Are communities taking enough responsibility for the loneliness of older neighbours? How can planning reform and housebuilding foster stronger social connections? Is loneliness pushing people towards food banks? To prevent the crisis of loneliness spreading further it is crucial that the government begins to engage with these issues.

The public also agrees. 79 per cent of adults agree that family breakdown is a significant cause of loneliness, yet there has been little focus on this area in the government’s work. Food bank use is at record high, but 31 per cent of people who use food bank users think most are just isolated.

Ever-increasing atomisation and disconnection across society is not sustainable. If we cannot create the conditions for stable and meaningful communities to flourish, then the UK will become an increasingly unhappy place. CSJ polling finds that nearly half of adults (47 per cent) disagree with the statement that most people are happy, nearly three in five (58 per cent) don’t think it’s easy to make new friends and less than half of adults (44 per cent) think that most people can be trusted.

While recognising loneliness as a problem, the government has inherited a loneliness strategy from 2018, A Connected Society, that is now out of date and making little progress in reducing loneliness. We need a new approach that is resolutely focused on addressing the root causes of the crisis.

This requires government to be focused on nurturing human virtue (meaning genuine happiness and flourishing), as well as addressing material and economic needs. The government can do this by supporting the local bonds and relationships which constitute our communities. Individuals flourish when embedded in groups and places, formed by traditions and responsibilities deriving from attachments like family and community life.

How do we know this is feasible and sustainable? Our work is informed by our unique relationship with more than 750 frontline charities across the UK. Many of these small charities are repairing the social fabric, strengthening communities and tackling loneliness in a way that the state could never replicate. Supporting such organisations to thrive should be considered an essential priority for the government in its approach to tackling loneliness.

An increasingly lonely nation does not have to be the UK’s future. There is much more that can be done by government, but also by each individual, to turn the tide on loneliness and build a truly connected society.