A ‘City’ Of Loneliness: Why 2.9 Million People In The UK Feel Always Or Often Alone
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A ‘City’ Of Loneliness: Why 2.9 Million People In The UK Feel Always Or Often Alone


According to the World Health Organisation, about 16% of people worldwide are facing social isolation and loneliness. In 2024, 22% of UK adults said they felt lonely at least some of the time.

But that loneliness is not shared equally. Younger generations seem to be lonelier than older ones, while almost half of people in poverty say they feel lonely compared to 15% of high earners.

And new data from the Belonging Forum’s 2026 Belonging Barometer has found that “people reporting poor mental health are five times more likely to feel lonely” than those with good mental health.

What did the research find?

The survey, conducted with Opinium, involved 10,000 UK adults.

It’s part of the Belonging Barometer, which the Belonging Forum says is designed to look at “how connected people feel to others, their communities, and their sense of purpose”.

  • Roughly one in five people with poor mental (21%) or physical health (20%) say they have no close friends,
  • Only 27% of those with poor mental health say the things they do in life are worthwhile, compared to 85% in good mental health,
  • Only 33% of people with poor mental health said they feel a strong sense of belonging to their neighbourhood, compared to 65% in good mental health,
  • Nearly two-thirds (64%) of people with poor mental health reported high anxiety yesterday, vs 29% of those in good mental health,
  • Though 76% of those with good mental health say they are satisfied with their friendships, this falls to 52% among those reporting poor mental health,
  • Two in five people with poor mental health report feeling lonely often or always, compared to 3% of people in good mental health.

That means about 2.9 million people in the UK with poor mental health say they feel lonely often or always – “roughly the population of Greater Manchester”.

“Health and belonging are closely connected”

Kim Samuel, founder and chief architect of the Belonging Forum, said: “Health and belonging are closely connected. When people struggle with their physical or mental health, they are much more likely to experience loneliness, weaker friendships, and higher levels of anxiety.”

She added, “These findings show that belonging is not only about community or identity. It is also about wellbeing. When people are unwell or facing barriers in their daily lives, it becomes harder to build and maintain the relationships that help us be connected and supported.

“A society where people cannot participate fully in social life is a society where belonging becomes harder to sustain.”




4 Science-Backed Rules For Actually Making Friends As An Adult
tioo World
4 Science-Backed Rules For Actually Making Friends As An Adult


It seems that adults have fewer close friends these days than they did 30 years ago – in the ’90s, a third of us said we had 10 close friends or more, but by the 2020s, that dropped to 13%.

Not only that, but friendships – which research suggests tend to fade away at around age 25 anyway – are getting more expensive.

Perhaps it’s no wonder that around a quarter of UK adults say they feel lonely “often, always or some of the time”.

But making friends as an adult can feel difficult. So, we thought we’d share some science-backed ways to boost your social life:

1) Don’t rely on luck

For years, I waited for a friendship “meet-cute” – maybe I’d find someone with my exact same interests and a similar personality by some unlikely chance.

But science says I was barking up the wrong tree. One study found that those who thought friendship was a matter of luck were likelier to feel more lonely five years later.

Those who believed that making friends took conscious effort, meanwhile, fared far better socially.

2) Embrace the “mere exposure” effect

A 2021 study found that people who sat next to each other in classrooms were more likely to become friends.

And the same seemed to be true for adults in college classrooms – another paper found that university students who came to class regularly, even when they didn’t talk to their classmates, were seen as more likeable than those who also didn’t interact and showed up less often.

Though you might not be in college or school anymore, the lesson likely holds true across volunteering groups and meet-ups like book and running clubs.

3) Assume people will like you

Science suggests that believing people will like and accept you makes you easier to get along with. When researchers told participants of one study that they were going to be accepted into a group, they shared with their new acquaintances and were more positive and less disagreeable.

The inverse seems to be true, too. Another paper showed that when people expect rejection, they read socially ambiguous behaviours – like being quiet – more negatively, taking them as a sign that a person doesn’t like them. In response, they behave in a colder, more defensive manner.

4) Like others in return

You might think that the most important factor when choosing friends is compatibility. But some research says that the number one trait people look for in a new friend is feeling liked and valued.

Further research, which followed new friend pairs for months, found that those who showed affection for one another were likeliest to stay together.

Cringe-inducing as it may feel at first, being open and clear about liking a person seems to go a long way to making – and keeping – new friendships.