Loneliness isn’t just an older person’s problem, England’s biggest study finds
Key Points
- 16.5% of the 135,725 respondents said they feel lonely often or always
- More than two-thirds reported loneliness at least occasionally; 12% said never
- Authors argue loneliness affects all adult age groups, not just older people
- The study does not report age-stratified results and does not establish differential risk
- Over-65s made up 32.4% of the sample and 16 to 25-year-olds 6.2%
Researchers behind the largest loneliness study ever run in England want policymakers to stop treating the issue as a condition of old age.
The INTERACT study surveyed 135,725 people aged 16 and over across England between March and July 2023, and reported that 16.5% felt lonely often or always.
A further 26.4% felt lonely some of the time and 22.9% occasionally, meaning more than two-thirds of respondents reported loneliness at least occasionally. Only 12% said they never felt lonely.
The authors conclude that their findings support treating loneliness as a population-wide phenomenon rather than a problem confined to later life, in line with the World Health Organization’s position.
They point to existing research describing a U-shaped pattern across the life course, with peaks in adolescence and in old age, and note that 16 to 25-year-olds consistently report high levels of loneliness.
Their own analysis does not break results down by age group and does not establish who is most at risk.
Most large UK datasets on loneliness have concentrated on older adults, including the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.
The INTERACT authors argue that their survey offers broader coverage across adult age groups and supports approaches that reach beyond older populations, including peer support and digital wellbeing services for younger adults.
“These findings reinforce what we’re seeing in primary care: loneliness affects people of all ages, not just older adults, with many people reporting that the COVID-19 pandemic increased their feelings of loneliness and isolation,” said Azeem Majeed, Professor at Imperial College London’s School of Public Health and senior author of the study.
The sample size itself skews towards older people. Over-65s made up 32.4% of respondents and 56 to 65-year-olds a further 24.5%, while 16 to 25-year-olds accounted for 6.2%.
Because participants volunteered rather than being randomly selected, the authors state that the figures describe respondents only and cannot be used to estimate how common loneliness is across England.
