This episode of LSE iQ asks, ‘How can we tackle loneliness?’. According to the Office for National Statistics, 7.1 per cent of adults in Great Britain - nearly 4 million people - say they 'often or always' feel lonely. Look around you when you’re in a crowded place – a supermarket or an office - 1 in 14 of the people you’re looking at are likely to be lonely, not just sometimes but most of the time.

And that’s half a million more people saying that they feel chronically lonely in 2023 than there were in 2020 – suggesting that the pandemic has had some enduring impacts in this respect.

Sue Windebank talks to a young person who responded to her own deep feelings of loneliness by campaigning to help others. She hears how people can be influenced to feel more or less lonely – at least for a short time. And she got a surprising insight into which group of people are the loneliest.

Sue talks to: Heather Kappes, Associate Professor of Management at LSE; David McDaid Associate Professorial Research Fellow in the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre at LSE; and Molly Taylor, Loneliness Activist and founder of #AloneNoMore.



Contributors

Heather Kappes

David McDaid

Molly Taylor



Research

The Role of Comparisons in Judgments of Loneliness by Andrew J. Arnold, Heather Barry Kappes, Eric Klinenberg and Piotr Winkielman.

Tackling loneliness evidence review: main report by: Louise Arseneault; Manuela Barreto; Anne-Kathrin Fett; Nancy Hey; Sonia Johnson; Kalpa Kharicha; Timothy Matthews; David McDaid; Ellie Pearce; Alexandra Pitman; and Christina Victor.

Addressing Loneliness in Older People Through a Personalized Support and Community Response Program by David McDaid and A-La Park.