One in four Aussies battle long-term loneliness

Australians who are single, unemployed, living with disability, experiencing financial hardship or poor health are more likely to be persistently lonely, a new study has found.

The report, released last week by Ending Loneliness Together, revealed that more than a 25 per cent of Australians have experienced long-term loneliness, lasting at least eight weeks, with that number jumping to more than 40 per cent for young people aged between 18 and 24.

Conducted between June and December last year, the study tracked the social experiences of more than 4,000 Australians, with snapshots of the participants taken across three different time points.

Ending Loneliness Together chief executive, Associate Professor Michelle Lim, said loneliness is a normal sign to connect with others, but life circumstances and other barriers are keeping some individuals lonely for longer.

“We found that one in four Australians experience persistent loneliness – that is their experiences were not resolved within eight weeks when we surveyed them again.

“For these individuals, it is likely that they face more barriers to seeking and developing healthy social connection, including limited accessibility to others, financial hardship and poor health.”

Meanwhile, people experiencing financial hardship were nearly seven times more likely to be persistently lonely than people whose financial meets were very well met, and people with mental health conditions were almost three times more likely to feel long-term loneliness than people with no mental health conditions.

Men were also 1.5 times more likely than women to experience persistent social isolation, defined has having infrequent social contact for a least eight weeks.

Social isolation and loneliness have both been linked previously to poorer health outcomes, suicide and a shortened life expectancy, concerns that have only been exacerbated by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Loneliness is being repositioned as a series global public health threat,” Associate Professor Lim said.

“We need to stop thinking of loneliness as a ‘soft’ issue.

“We are living in an ever-changing world. The speed and size of those changes can, for many, make it harder to develop and maintain healthy social relationships.”

But opportunities for greater social connection can be built and strengthened, she said.

“Loneliness can be difficult to tackle because a whole-of-system approach is required to significantly address the wide range of contributory factors.

“But we can start by building an enhanced culture of connection – a society which helps us to start, maintain and strengthen meaningful healthy social connections.

“Individuals can act by strengthening their relationship with family, friends, colleagues, neighbours. Workplaces and schools can create activities and policies that not just bring people together, but that also allow them to build high quality connections.

“We can choose to build common spaces that are safe, accessible and free, so that communities can more easily and readily come together.”