Metric permalink
Chronic loneliness
Part of the Trust and Wellbeing domain. Percentage of adults who report feeling often or always lonely, measuring the depth of social isolation across the population.
Latest data
Latest reading
May 2026
A higher reading is treated as worse for this indicator.
Score composition
Stress score
Blended from three components: (60% weight), trend (30% weight) and volatility (10% weight). Full formula on the methodology page.
Level · 60% weight
Bounds: scored against fixed best/worst limits, used until a metric has about eight years of verified data to rank against.
Trend · 30% weight
Measured from the direction and size of the change between the two most recent readings.
Volatility · 10% weight
50Provisional: fewer than four historical readings are available, so this defaults to a mid range score rather than a measured figure.
Data confidence and provenance
Confidence and source
How much weight to put on the reading, the mean data-confidence across the component metrics (source quality, recency and completeness).
Source
Opinions and Lifestyle Survey
- Update frequency
- Periodic
- Reliability
- medium
Provenance
- Provider
- ONS (Opinions and Lifestyle Survey)
- Series ID
- OPN chronic loneliness
- Frequency
- periodic
- Accessed
- 23 June 2026
Known weakness
ONS Opinions and Lifestyle Survey is a small quota sample with periodic fieldwork; the loneliness question is not asked consistently, limiting time-series continuity.
Notes
Verified official value from ONS (Opinions and Lifestyle Survey) (OPN chronic loneliness), accessed 2026-06-23.
Historical values
History
| Period | Value | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 7 | |
| May 2026 | 8 |