After a year of lockdowns, social distancing, and restrictions on travel and gatherings, some groups of people have reported high rates of loneliness and poorer well-being in recent months.
Between October 2020 to February 2021, results from the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) show 7.2% of the adult population (about 3.7 million adults) felt lonely “often” or “always”.
Mapping trends across the country shows the types of places where a higher proportion of people felt lonely, and differences in personal well-being.
We found areas with a higher concentration of younger people (aged 16-24) and areas with higher rates of unemployment tended to have higher rates of loneliness during the study period.
To read the full article, click here.