Age UK Report: Loneliness in later Life - December 2024

Excerpt from report:

Summary and recommendations

"Age UK calls for joined-up action across health, social care, public health, local government and business to better grip the loneliness challenge.

As the examples in the report show, while loneliness is not a simple challenge to solve, it’s also not impossible.

We have good evidence of what works to tackle loneliness and know that, with the right support, it is possible to vastly reduce the frequency and intensity of loneliness older people experience.

As well as supporting people who are already lonely to cope with or overcome their feelings, it is important to help prevent people from becoming persistently lonely in the first place by making sure that community infrastructure provides a complementary approach. This includes thoughtful rural and urban design to help foster communal connection, equitable planning of public amenities like transportation and access to green space, thriving community hubs, investment in safe and secure housing and much more.

If we don’t tackle loneliness, by 2034 there will be 1.2 million people over 65 in England who will often feel lonely,33[1] with far reaching consequences.

We know what works to tackle loneliness, and the examples in this report are a real cause for optimism – showing that, with sustained investment in the right approaches, we can make a positive difference to older people’s lives.

We now need to reinvigorate our efforts to tackle loneliness or see the successes over recent years reversed.

It is possible to take effective action on loneliness in later life."

For the full report please download the attached PDF.

Find more information on Age UK here

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