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What does it mean if you say that something is an epidemic? In the case of a virus, it usually means that it is spreading rapidly and that more and more people are getting infected.

When a disease isn鈥檛 on the rise but is there in a population at a reasonably steady level, we tend to say that the disease is endemic.

But what if the thing you鈥檙e talking about is not a virus, but a feeling?

In 2023, the US surgeon general launched a report called 鈥淥ur Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation鈥�, warning of the health harms of being lonely and socially isolated.

The idea that there is an epidemic of loneliness didn鈥檛 start there - the term was already in use in the US in the 2010s. And it鈥檚 a phrase that鈥檚 still going strong, popping up in news stories on a regular basis.

After that warning from the US Surgeon General, the World Health Organisation launched the Commission on Social Connection, with their director general warning that 鈥渕ore and more people are finding themselves isolated and lonely.鈥�

But is it true that loneliness rates are increasing? Is it right to say we鈥檙e in the midst of an epidemic of loneliness?

It鈥檚 hard to find the data that backs up this claim.

If you鈥檝e seen a number in the news you think we should take a look at, email moreorless@bbc.co.uk

CONTRIBUTOR:

Professor Melody Ding, an epidemiologist and population behavioural scientist at the University of Sydney

CREDITS:

Presenter: Tim Harford
Reporter: Tom Colls
Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound mix: Dave O鈥橬eill
Editor: Richard Vadon

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