Center forSocial
Connection

Research Center · Est. 2021

Connection is a health outcome.
We publish the evidence.

Independent reviews of the research on social connection, isolation and loneliness. Quantitative. Sceptical. Cited across the field.

Read the researchSource library

1 in 6

people worldwide affected by loneliness

World Health Organization, Commission on Social Connection, 2025

~30%

higher risk of heart attack or stroke

Journal of the American Heart Association, 2022

871,000

deaths a year linked to loneliness

World Health Organization, Commission on Social Connection, 2025

1.29

mortality odds ratio for social isolation

Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2015

Research

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From the Library

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Harvard Graduate School of Education, Making Caring Common, 2021

Loneliness in America: How the Pandemic Has Deepened an Epidemic of Loneliness

The most-quoted American prevalence figure of the pandemic period, and the one that established young adults rather than older adults as the loneliest age group in public understanding. Read alongside other surveys rather than against them: the instrument is specific to this study, so the 36% cannot be compared directly with figures from the Cigna index or federal surveillance.

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