One in five U.S. adults reports feeling lonely on a daily basis, according to a new Gallup survey. It’s the highest rate of reported loneliness in the past two years.
The figure is up slightly from earlier this year, when 17% to 18% of survey respondents reported feeling a lack of social connection, but it’s lower than the peak of 25% of respondents who reported feeling lonely during the three-year stretch of the COVID-19 pandemic from 2019 to 2021.
Gallup did not collect stats on loneliness prior to the pandemic, a time during which the need for social distancing kept people out of the office and “sheltering in place” at home for long periods of time, so it’s unclear if the latest numbers are a return to normal or indicative of a growing problem.
In 2023, the U.S. surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, declared Americans were in the midst of a “loneliness epidemic.” Gallup estimates that 52 million U.S. adults still feel a sense of disconnect.
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The survey didn’t ask why people are feeling such a sense of isolation, but Dan Witters, the research director of the Gallup National Health and Well-Being index, has some ideas.
“These are divided times,” Witters told ABC News. “As we get closer to the election, that’s going to drive people indoors to avoid areas of conflict.”
Eileen Graham, an associate professor of medical social sciences at Northwestern University School of Medicine, speculated that the pandemic made us more vulnerable to isolation.
Loneliness and social isolation are reaching crisis levels, the surgeon general said.
“There are a lot of aspects of our lives during COVID that became a bit more normalized by tending toward more virtual workspaces,” she said. “Even though there has been a return to work, there are still certain aspects that still have not returned to normal.”
Social isolation is more than just not speaking to your neighbors or having no one to chat with at work. It can have a profound impact on life satisfaction.
People who reported experiencing loneliness in the past 24 hours were almost 5 times more likely to rate their current quality of life as poor.
Although that negativity faded over time, they were still 2.5 times more likely to have a negative view of what their life satisfaction might look like five years into the future.
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For anyone looking to forge closer bonds with their fellow humans, Witters said there are three simple things that can help: like what you do, build positive relationships, and cultivate a sense of accomplishment.
“It’s so important to stay active and feel productive every day,” he said.
If you tap into these three aspects of your life, he estimated that you’re “greater than 75% less likely to experience loneliness.”
Tackling loneliness is essential for good health.
Lonely people have up to 29% increased of risk for premature death, according to a recent study. Witters said they also experience higher rates of depression, anger and mental health issues.
Loneliness can be costly, too. For example, older adults who are cut off from strong social connections cost Medicare about $6.7 billion per year in excess spending for hospital and nursing facility care, according to the American Association of Retired Persons Policy Institute.
Graham suggested that, as a culture, we need to do a better job of getting out of our individual shells and start looking outward.
“We have to reach out and cure it for each other,” she said. “Try to identify ways that you can help other people feel like they are meaningfully connected.”
Itohan Omorodion, MD, MPH, who contributed to this story, is an internal medicine resident at George Washington University Hospital and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
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