Nearly 1 in 6 adults report frequent loneliness in large England survey

LONDON - Almost one in six adults reported feeling lonely often or always in a large England survey, and nearly half said the COVID pandemic made isolation worse, according to research covered by Fox News.

Professors at Imperial College London ran the INTERACT study. They recruited 135,725 volunteers age 16 and older for an online survey during a five-month period in 2023.

Almost one in six said they felt lonely often or always. More than one in five frequently felt a lack of companionship or felt left out or isolated, the SWNS news agency reported.

Lead researcher Austen El-Osta said loneliness is strongly shaped by surroundings, social networks, and environment. Some of the loneliest clusters were in large cities such as London, Birmingham, and Manchester. The team described an urban paradox: cities offer cultural and economic advantages, yet many residents report lower connection and life satisfaction than people in rural areas.

Nearly 44 percent of respondents said the pandemic increased loneliness. About 48.2 percent reported more isolation. Senior author Dr. Azeem Majeed, an NHS general practitioner, said loneliness feeds anxiety and depression, raises risk of long-term illness, and drives more clinic visits.

Relationship status did not cleanly predict loneliness. About 45 percent of respondents were married or in a civil partnership, and almost 20 percent were single.

Imperial College London called the project one of the largest dedicated loneliness studies in a single country. Authors cautioned that the sample cannot fully measure population prevalence. It overrepresented highly educated people, underrepresented some minority groups, and carried the self-selection bias of online surveys.

Separate European research in adults ages 65 to 94 has linked higher loneliness with worse memory scores at baseline, adding another reason doctors may ask about social connection during aging visits.