Lockdown was eased nearly half a year ago. Why are millions of people in the UK still chronically lonely?

In April this year, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed levels of loneliness in the UK had been on the rise since spring 2020. The number of people who reported feeling lonely “often” or “always” had increased from around 2.6 million people in April 2020 to around 3.7 million between October 2020 to February 2021.

The pervasive feeling of loneliness that blanketed the nation came as people were forced into isolation due to the coronavirus pandemic. Tight restrictions stopped people from meeting up with one another or going about regular activities such as school and work. The public were told to stay at home to avoid spreading the virus and for many, there were only virtual means of keeping in touch with others.

Then in July, almost all Covid restrictions were eased across the country and people were allowed to socialise freely after months of following strict rules around who they could see and where they could go. People were reunited with loved ones, social plans could go ahead once more, employees returned to the office and life seemed to resume almost as normally as it did before.

But now, nearly six months later, a charity has warned that there are still 3.3 million people who have been “chronically lonely” between September to November this year, with young people more likely to be affected by this feeling.

The Campaign to End Loneliness analysed data from the ONS and found that the pandemic continues to have a huge impact on levels of loneliness. The organisation said that 6.3 per cent of people continue to say they feel lonely “often” or “always”, demonstrating that levels of loneliness continue to be higher than before Covid-19 hit.

This is slightly less than the proportion of adults who said they felt lonely in the ONS report “Mapping loneliness during the coronavirus pandemic”. At the time the report was published, 7.2 per cent of the adult population reported feeling lonely from October 2020 to February 2021, up from five per cent in April 2020.

The campaign carried out its analysis of responses from the ONS Opinions and Lifestyle Survey in early December. The responses were collected over two time periods, which were from June to August and September to November.

The campaign’s analysis found that younger people aged between 16 to 29 years were most likely to say they were lonely “often” or “always”. This was also reflected in the ONS report published earlier this year, with even higher rates of loneliness reported by young people associated with urban areas outside London.

Reports of chronic loneliness decreased significantly with age, said the Campaign to End Loneliness, with nine per cent of 16-29 years olds reporting the feeling compared to four per cent of people over 70.

Women are also more likely than men to report they had experienced some feelings of loneliness, said the organisation, with 56 per cent of women saying they felt lonely compared to 43 per cent of men. Women were significantly more likely to report feeling lonely at least “some of the time” or “occasionally”.

Robin Hewings, programme director of the Campaign to End Loneliness, said that the figures highlight how feelings of loneliness don’t recede just because restrictions were lifted.

“Loneliness can have a hugely damaging impact on our mental and physical health,” he said. “Chronic loneliness is hard to get out of and it will take time and support for people to recover and rebuild their social connections up again.”

The organisation is calling for “concerted action” from each UK nation’s governments, as well as from charities, local government and communities to establish “structures and support… needed to alleviate the impact of loneliness on our mental wellbeing”.

“As individuals, we can also reach out to families and friends who we think may be lonely too,” Hewings added.

“Particular groups such as young people, those living alone and people in more deprived communities will also need particular targeted support to help them ‘bounce back’ from the impact of Covid-19 on their social networks.”

The rapid spread of the new Covid-19 Omicron variant has seen some restrictions being reintroduced, such as mandatory mask-wearing and working from home. With more measures expected to be announced after Christmas, Hewings warns that levels of loneliness may rise again.

“As the Omicron variant seems likely to reduce our ability to meet people, we may see levels of loneliness rise once again with serious impact on our mental wellbeing,” he said.

According to the Mental Health Foundation, long-term loneliness can bring an increased risk of certain mental health problems, including depression, anxiety and increased stress. Having a mental health problem can, in turn, make people feel more lonely due to stigma or social anxiety – leading to a vicious cycle of loneliness.

The organisation encourages people to care for one another by “checking in on people who are more isolated” or by volunteering for a helpline to fend off a “loneliness epidemic”.