"Loneliness" That Persists Even After COVID ― The Invisible Divide in Urban Life Revealed by a Survey of 135,000 People in the UK

A significant amount of time has passed since the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions worldwide.

People have returned to the streets, and offices, restaurants, and event venues are bustling once again. For many, going out without a mask, dining with friends, and traveling abroad have become part of daily life once more.

However, have people's "connections" truly returned to their pre-pandemic state?

A large-scale study conducted in the UK, involving over 135,000 participants, reveals that the answer to this question is not a simple "yes."

In the "INTERACT" study by researchers at Imperial College London, about 1 in 6 respondents reported "often or always feeling lonely."

Furthermore, more than 1 in 5 frequently experienced feelings of "having no companions," "being left out," or "being socially isolated."

Notably, a significant number of people cited the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as a contributing factor.

Approximately 44% of respondents said "the pandemic increased their feelings of loneliness," and 48.2% reported "an increased sense of isolation."

These figures suggest that changes in human relationships, rather than the infection itself, may continue post-pandemic.

The massive "loneliness" survey of over 135,000 people

The INTERACT study was conducted targeting individuals aged 16 and over living in England, UK.

The analysis released this time used data from over 135,000 people who responded to an online survey between March and July 2023.

The study did not simply ask, "Are you lonely?"

In addition to widely used scales for measuring loneliness, questions such as "Do you feel you have no companions?" and "Do you feel left out?" were asked, along with inquiries about trust in neighbors, community relations, and social connections.

In other words, the researchers aimed to look beyond individual feelings.

They sought to clarify not only "who is more likely to be lonely" but also "in what regions or social environments loneliness is more likely to occur."

This approach connects to the idea that loneliness cannot be explained solely by "personal character" or "the number of friends."

"Being alone" and "loneliness" are not the same

When considering loneliness, it is important to distinguish between "social isolation" and "feelings of loneliness."

Some people live alone but are satisfied with their relationships with family and friends and have connections with their community. On the other hand, some live with family, go to work every day, and converse with many people but feel "no one truly understands me."

The number of people alone cannot measure loneliness.

One might ride a crowded train, pass by hundreds of people, work with colleagues, and follow hundreds on social media, yet still feel "I have no one" at the end of the day.

What makes the INTERACT study intriguing is that it examines both subjective loneliness and trust in the community and social connections.

One symbolic theme that emerged from the results is the big city.

The "urban paradox" observed in London, Birmingham, and Manchester

When researchers analyzed respondents' residential areas, clusters of people reporting loneliness were found in major metropolitan areas such as London, Birmingham, and Manchester.

Intuitively, this might seem like a puzzling result.

The larger the city, the more people there are.

There are many restaurants, schools, companies, museums, concerts, sports, and hobby communities, seemingly offering more opportunities to meet people than in rural areas.

However, "having many people" is not the same as "having relationships."

The research team associates this phenomenon with the so-called "urban paradox."

The idea is that while cities offer abundant economic, cultural, and social opportunities, connections among residents and life satisfaction do not necessarily increase proportionally.

For example, even if hundreds of residents live in one apartment building, it is not uncommon not to know the neighbor's name.

Even if tens of thousands of people use a station daily, there may be no one there who "knows you."

Even if the population density in a city is high, the density of human relationships is not necessarily high.

The results prompt reconsideration of this contradiction.

However, there is an important caveat here.

This study does not prove a causal relationship that "living in a city makes you lonely." The researchers themselves state that this survey is essentially an observational study recording a state at a specific point in time and cannot definitively determine cause and effect.

"Many respondents reported loneliness in urban areas" and "urban living caused loneliness" do not mean the same thing.

The pandemic severed more than just "contact"

During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was necessary to reduce contact with others to curb the spread of infection.

Remote work, online classes, restrictions on going out, event cancellations, restaurant closures, and family visitation restrictions.

Many measures were necessary at the time as infection control.

However, from a social perspective, it was also a period when countless "small points of contact" that naturally maintained human relationships were lost all at once.

Break times at work.

Conversations on the way to school.

Small talk with clerks at favorite stores.

Sports clubs.

Community events.

Hobby groups that meet regularly on certain days of the week.

Each may not seem like a life-changing event.

However, human relationships do not consist solely of best friends and family.

These weak connections accumulate and contribute to the feeling of "being part of society."

During the pandemic, these points of contact moved online or disappeared altogether.

And once severed, human relationships do not automatically revive with the resumption of social activities.

Some people have reduced their commute from five days a week to two.

Some stores have closed.

Some clubs have disbanded.

Some people have moved.

Some people's lives have changed altogether.

Even though infection control measures have ended, the structure of human relationships is not the same as before.

The fact that about 44% reported increased loneliness during the pandemic is an important consideration when thinking about these social changes.

However, this figure cannot be interpreted as "the pandemic made 44% of people lonely."

It is the result of respondents reflecting that it "increased," and the study design does not directly prove causation.

Loneliness is not just an "elderly issue"

When people hear the word loneliness, they might imagine an elderly person living alone.

However, recent UK public statistics show that it is not necessarily the elderly who are the loneliest.

In a survey conducted by the UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS) in early 2026, 27% of those aged 16-29 and 28% of those aged 30-49 reported "often, always, or sometimes feeling lonely."

In contrast, the figures were 19% for those aged 50-69 and 16% for those aged 70 and above.

Due to differences in question methods and response categories, direct comparison with INTERACT is not possible.

Still, it is clear that the simple equation of "young people have abundant relationships" and "the elderly are lonely" does not hold.

With SNS and messaging apps, it has become easier than ever to contact others.

Yet, this does not automatically provide a sense of connection.

Even with hundreds of online contacts, there may be no one to call when in trouble.

Such new forms of loneliness exist.

On SNS, voices call for "restoring local places"

When the study results were introduced, various opinions emerged on SNS.

On the UK's large bulletin board Reddit, opinions were posted suggesting that "the increase in loneliness might lead to a reevaluation of places where people actually gather, such as local pubs, in the future."

British pubs have functioned not just as places to drink but as "third places" where local residents naturally meet.

On the other hand, there were reactions like "some people can't afford to go out in the first place."

As living costs rise, dining out and entertainment are often the first to be cut.

Spending more time at home reduces accidental encounters with people.

This suggests that loneliness is related not only to individual communication skills but also to income and living environment.

Additionally, there were voices expressing that "while there are free or low-cost walking groups, for those who have been away from society for a long time, rejoining social circles itself is difficult."

As a measure against loneliness, saying "just go out" or "make friends" is easy.

However, if loneliness becomes prolonged, joining unfamiliar groups can be a significant psychological burden.

Comments from individuals discussing the difficulty of making friends face-to-face due to neurodevelopmental characteristics were also seen.

A few posts on SNS cannot be treated as representative of public opinion.

Nevertheless, they reveal the circumstances from the perspective of those living with the issue of "why people can't connect," which is not easily visible from research statistics alone.

On LinkedIn, "should be treated as a public health issue"

On the business-oriented SNS LinkedIn, in response to the introduction of the study by Imperial College London, there were posts suggesting that "loneliness needs to be taken seriously as a public health issue."

Another comment viewed loneliness not just as an individual issue but as a systemic problem related to society and the economy, emphasizing the importance of connections with the community where people can feel a sense of belonging and purpose.

The key point here is the shift in perspective from "how to change lonely people" to "how to create a society where loneliness is less likely."

Simply urging each person to "be more proactive" will not solve the problem.

Parks, libraries, cafes, community facilities, sports activities, volunteering, and local events—places where people can naturally interact with others—need to be considered part of the social infrastructure.

WHO also warns of loneliness as a health issue

The reason loneliness is gaining attention is not simply "because it's sad."

The World Health Organization (WHO) states that social connections are closely related to physical and mental health and reports that loneliness and social isolation are associated with risks such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cognitive decline, and early death.

Mentally, loneliness is also linked to depression and anxiety.

Of course, it's not a simple matter of "feeling lonely makes you sick."

There are cases where poor health reduces outings and leads to loneliness, and economic difficulties may affect both health and relationships.

Causes and effects are intricately intertwined.

Therefore, loneliness cannot be resolved by healthcare alone.

It becomes a problem related to various areas of society, including living environment, transportation, employment, income, education, community facilities, and digital environment.

The UK government also formulated a loneliness strategy in 2018, aiming to reduce the stigma of discussing loneliness and consider relationships and loneliness in policy-making.

This study further highlights the necessity of such measures.

Caution is needed with the large number of "130,000 people"

Although this study is extremely large, involving over 135,000 people, it is dangerous to think that "a large number of survey participants = accurately representing all of England."

Participants were not randomly selected.

Participation was voluntary for an online survey, and people with a high interest in the research or those who have experienced loneliness themselves may have been more likely to participate.

Participants tended to include more women, white individuals, and highly educated people, with some minority groups not sufficiently represented.

Also, if online participation is a prerequisite, people who find it difficult to use the internet or those extremely disconnected from society may be excluded from the survey.

The research paper clearly positions this data not as a means to calculate the "exact percentage of people feeling lonely in England," but as valuable for examining patterns observed within the responding group.

This is very important.

It is necessary to understand that "about 1 in 6 of the large respondent group of over 135,000 reported frequent loneliness," rather than concluding that "1 in 6 Britons is chronically lonely."

The question may not be about "lonely people" but about "a society that can connect"