Aussies facing ‘loneliness crisis’ with fewer friends, less contact: survey

AUSTRALIANS are suffering from a “loneliness crisis” as we have fewer friends and less contact with our neighbours than a decade ago.

News Corp Australia can reveal exclusive data that shows just how disconnected we are from one another and the price we are paying for it.

An OmniPoll survey of 1200 Australians conducted by Martin O’Shannessey has shown 17 per cent of Australians had no friends they could visit without invitation when surveyed last month. This is up from just 7 per cent in 1984.

The average number of close friends people have has also close to halved in 13 years, with those surveyed saying they only have 3.9 close friends in 2018, compared to the 6.4 average in 2005.

Neighbourly help has also plummeted with 18 per cent of Australians saying they couldn’t reach out to any neighbours for assistance in times of crisis — up from 11 per cent who said the same thing in 2005.

The new findings come as data from Relationships Australia shows more men (15 per cent) than women (8 per cent) reported that they had no close friends outside of their long-term relationship.

Women (30 per cent) were more likely than men (19 per cent) to report they had five or more close friends outside of their relationship.

Alison Brook, from Relationships Australia, said Australia was suffering from a “loneliness crisis”.

“As a population Australians are more time poor, now with many households having all adults in employment with less time for community engagement,” Ms Brook said.

Kristy Goodwin, digital expert, said the infiltration of technology into many facets of our lives was partly to blame.

So too was a more mobile society, high-density housing and fewer people remaining in one spot for 50-years, she said.