We’re living in the midst of what Noreena Hertz refers to as the “lonely century”.  In a bid to better understand the scale of the problem, Imperial College London is conducting a survey to produce a visual snapshot of loneliness across London.

The project aims to collect data from thousands of Londoners to try and both raise awareness of the scale of the loneliness epidemic and also to help better target services to those who need it.

“Loneliness is one of society’s entrenched problems, and has a significant impact on mental health, life expectancy, and quality of life,” the team explains.  “As loneliness and isolation can affect people of all ages and from all different walks of life, it is important for us to gain insights from as diverse a range of people as possible.”

Measuring loneliness

The survey contains a range of questions covering one’s local community, employment, social life, and level of education.  The survey can be completed without providing personal information, with the only identifying information being the post code of the user so that the heat map of loneliness can be generated.

“We hope our heat map of loneliness will help us answer some key questions, including to what extent the patterns we observe from measuring loneliness are similar to those derived by using known predictors of loneliness, such as unemployment, living alone and other factors,” the team concludes.

“We could also look at what evidence-based interventions could be considered based on the area in which people live, their communities, and the services that already exist.

“Local authorities could use this information to mobilize already existing community assets (such as pharmacists, or volunteer organisations) and targeted interventions (such as befriending schemes & organised walks in the park and team parties) to support people in need, or who may be suffering in silence.”