The Prevalence of Loneliness in Older People

Percentages on the right-hand side highlighted in orange mark the most at risk (top 10%) areas across Great Britain.
This data has been collected from the most recent Census.

The Prevalence and Causes of Loneliness and Social Isolation in Older People (75+) across the United Kingdom

Click on any region to view details. The map uses local authority district boundaries as they existed before 2023. Some areas may display “no data available for this locality” due to changes to boundary definitions.

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Percentage of Re-engage older people (75+) who felt lonely often or always when they joined Re-engage

Great Britain by Local Authority area image/svg+xml Great Britain by Local Authority area fredx100 Great Britain Contains Ordnance Survey data (C) Crown copyright and database right 2017 Wycombe South Bucks Chiltern Aylesbury Vale Fenland South Cambridgeshire East Cambridgeshire Huntingdonshire Cambridge Copeland Carlisle South Lakeland Allerdale Eden Barrow-in-Furness High Peak South Derbyshire Erewash North East Derbyshire Amber Valley Bolsover Derbyshire Dales Chesterfield North Devon East Devon Teignbridge West Devon Mid Devon Exeter Purbeck Christchurch West Dorset East Dorset North Dorset Weymouth and Portland Lewes Rother Wealden Eastbourne Hastings Brentwood Rochford Epping Forest Tendring Uttlesford Chelmsford Colchester Maldon Braintree Harlow Basildon Castle Point Forest of Dean Cotswold Stroud Tewkesbury Gloucester Cheltenham Basingstoke and Deane New Forest Eastleigh East Hampshire Winchester Test Valley Hart Gosport Fareham Havant Rushmoor Three Rivers Hertsmere Broxbourne Dacorum East Hertfordshire St Albans Welwyn Hatfield North Hertfordshire Watford Stevenage Tunbridge Wells Shepway Sevenoaks Tonbridge and Malling Thanet Ashford Canterbury Dover Maidstone Swale Dartford Gravesham West Lancashire Lancaster Chorley South Ribble Rossendale Fylde Preston Wyre Pendle Ribble Valley Hyndburn Burnley Hinckley and Bosworth North West Leicestershire Melton Harborough Blaby Charnwood Oadby and Wigston West Lindsey South Kesteven South Holland Boston North Kesteven East Lindsey Lincoln Great Yarmouth South Norfolk King's Lynn and West Norfolk Breckland Norwich South Northamptonshire East Northamptonshire Daventry Wellingborough Kettering Northampton Corby Scarborough Selby Craven Richmondshire Harrogate Ryedale Hambleton Rushcliffe Gedling Ashfield Newark and Sherwood Bassetlaw Broxtowe Mansfield Vale of White Horse South Oxfordshire Cherwell West Oxfordshire Oxford West Somerset Mendip Taunton Deane South Somerset Sedgemoor Staffordshire Moorlands South Staffordshire Lichfield Newcastle-under-Lyme Stafford East Staffordshire Cannock Chase Tamworth Waveney Babergh Suffolk Coastal St Edmundsbury Forest Heath Mid Suffolk Ipswich Waverley Tandridge Woking Surrey Heath Runnymede Guildford Reigate and Banstead Mole Valley Elmbridge Spelthorne Epsom and Ewell North Warwickshire Rugby Warwick Stratford-on-Avon Nuneaton and Bedworth Arun Adur Chichester Mid Sussex Horsham Worthing Crawley Malvern Hills Wyre Forest Wychavon Bromsgrove Worcester Redditch Kingston upon Thames Croydon Bromley Hounslow Ealing Havering Hillingdon Harrow Brent Barnet Lambeth Southwark Lewisham Greenwich Bexley Enfield Waltham Forest Redbridge Sutton Richmond upon Thames Merton Wandsworth Hammersmith and Fulham Kensington and Chelsea Westminster Camden Tower Hamlets Islington Hackney Haringey Newham Barking and Dagenham Barnsley Birmingham Bolton Bradford Bury Calderdale Wolverhampton Coventry Doncaster Dudley Gateshead Kirklees Knowsley Leeds Liverpool Manchester Newcastle upon Tyne North Tyneside Oldham Rochdale Rotherham Salford Sandwell Sefton Sheffield Solihull South Tyneside Stockport St. Helens Sunderland Tameside Trafford Wakefield Walsall Wigan Wirral Swansea Angus Bath and North East Somerset Bedford Blackburn with Darwen Blackpool Blaenau Gwent Bournemouth Bracknell Forest Vale of Glamorgan Caerphilly Newport Neath Port Talbot Central Bedfordshire Cheshire East Cheshire West and Chester Bristol, City of Derby Kingston upon Hull, City of Leicester Nottingham Peterborough Southampton Stoke-on-Trent Clackmannanshire Conwy County Durham Herefordshire, County of Darlington Dundee City East Ayrshire East Dunbartonshire East Renfrewshire East Riding of Yorkshire Falkirk Glasgow City Halton Hartlepool Inverclyde Luton Medway Merthyr Tydfil Middlesbrough Midlothian Milton Keynes North East Lincolnshire North Lanarkshire North Lincolnshire Bridgend Perth and Kinross Poole Powys Reading Redcar and Cleveland Renfrewshire Rhondda Cynon Taf Rutland Scottish Borders Shropshire Denbighshire Carmarthenshire Flintshire Slough Southend-on-Sea South Gloucestershire South Lanarkshire Stirling Stockton-on-Tees Swindon Telford and Wrekin Brighton and Hove Thurrock Torfaen Torbay Warrington West Berkshire West Dunbartonshire West Lothian Wiltshire Windsor and Maidenhead Wokingham Wrexham York Broadland North Norfolk South Hams Torridge Isle of Wight Isle of Anglesey Gwynedd Cardiff Ceredigion Monmouthshire Pembrokeshire North Somerset Highland Moray Orkney Islands Na h-Eileanan Siar Argyll and Bute Aberdeenshire Fife Aberdeen City City of Edinburgh East Lothian Shetland Islands North Ayrshire Dumfries and Galloway Portsmouth Plymouth South Ayrshire Northumberland Cornwall Isles of Scilly

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The risk factors for loneliness

Our work

Re-engage was founded by Trevor Lyttleton in 1965 and initially known as ‘Contact’, then ‘Contact the Elderly’, before rebranding to Re-engage in 2019. The very first Re-engage Tea Party took place on 4 April 1965 April 2025 and what started with a simple act of kindness has grown into a nationwide movement bringing companionship, friendship, and connection into the lives of thousands of older people and volunteers.

We are now the only UK charity solely focused on reducing loneliness among people aged 75 and over. We do this through three core services:

  • Tea Parties: monthly social groups where older people can enjoy conversation and friendship with guests of all ages.
  • Call Companions: telephone befriending services ensuring older people stay connected to the outside world – reducing social isolation through regular chats over the phone with a friendly volunteer.
  • Activity Groups: gentle exercise, taking place both face to face and online.

All our services are free to older people.

If you’re interested in volunteering with us please read more on our volunteering roles.

If you know a lonely or isolated older person, please read more on our local service availability.

Or, if you are an organisation interested in helping fund these services please contact us directly to learn more about our corporate sponsors.

 
Re-engage is an extraordinary organisation making a real and immediate difference in the lives of so many older people across the country. Through simple yet powerful initiatives, they help bring people out of isolation and give them opportunities to connect, feel valued, and stay informed. It’s a true privilege for us to support Re-engage through our monthly coffee afternoons, which we host at our Bromsgrove office. 

– Ranjot Khatra, Director, Bluebird Care Bromsgrove & Redditch

How you can get involved in reducing loneliness and social isolation  

Refer lonely older people – If you know an older person, or you are an older person who could use a friendly voice or a new social circle, getting involved with Re-engage could make all the difference. We offer free services that help people aged 75 and over who are lonely, isolated, and in need of companionship. Our activities are designed to create lasting social connections in a friendly, safe, and inclusive way. To make a referral please visit our referral webpage.

Volunteer with us – we are a volunteer-led charity and we couldn’t provide the services we do without the support of our volunteers. To explore our volunteering opportunities and find the perfect role for you, please visit our volunteering webpage.

Help us fundraise – Through donations - big and small - your support can help change lives and communities. To find out more about some ways you can help please visit our support us webpage.

Get involved in our policy or research work – We engage with loneliness through policy, aiming to raise awareness of the issues faced by older people, and influence decision makers. For more information about how we amplify the voices of older people through our policy work, and to get involved please visit our Policy hub.

Gain a greater understanding of how loneliness might impact your business or organisation – We offer flexible packages to help companies and organisations build more inclusive and effect connections with people aged 75 and over. To find out more and to contact us please visit our professional services webpage.

Anyone who needs support, who is worried about an older relative or friend, or who wants to find out more about our services, can get in touch by calling us free of charge on 0800 716543 (9am - 5pm), or by visiting reengage.org.uk.

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We have teams across the UK.

Address

Re-engage
7 Bell Yard
London
WC2A 2JR

Freephone:

0800 716543

Office phone:

020 7240 0630

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