Pandemic loneliness ‘greater in areas with more young people’

LEVELS of loneliness during the Covid-19 pandemic have tended to be greater in areas with high concentrations of younger people and higher rates of unemployment, new figures suggest.

People in areas with higher crime rates or with higher levels of anxiety were also more likely to report feeling lonely. Loneliness rates were lower in countryside areas compared with urban and industrial locations, however.

The figures, from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), suggest 7.2% of the adult population of Britain felt lonely “often or always” between October 2020 and February 2021.

This is the equivalent of around 3.7 million people - up from 2.6 million, or 5.0% of the population, between April and May 2020.

North-east England recorded the highest loneliness rate of any region in England (8.7%), while eastern England recorded the lowest (6.5%).

In Wales, 8.3% of adults surveyed said they felt lonely “often or always”, compared with 7.3% in England and 6.5% in Scotland.

The ONS said places with a lower average age have generally experienced higher rates of loneliness during the pandemic, and that “higher rates of loneliness reported by young people are particularly associated with urban areas outside London”.

Living in a single-person household, difficulties with relationships caused by the pandemic, and not having anyone to talk to have also contributed to loneliness.

Figures for individual local authorities, where the sample size was large enough to ensure reliable estimates, show Tameside (15.1%), Leicester (14.3%) and Stoke-on-Trent (13.7%) as having the highest loneliness rates in Britain. They are followed by Sandwell (13.6%), Nottingham (12.8%) and Hull (12.5%).

Sample sizes were too small for reliable estimates for local authorities in Scotland and Wales.