In recent years, loneliness has emerged as a profound public health challenge with far-reaching implications beyond mere emotional distress. Groundbreaking research from the University of Exeter has illuminated an intricate connection between loneliness and healthcare costs across various age groups in the United Kingdom. This study, published in the open-access journal PLOS One on September 3, 2025, provides compelling evidence demonstrating how frequently feeling lonely correlates with significantly increased National Health Service (NHS) expenditures. The findings elucidate that loneliness is not just a social or psychological issue but also an economic burden, emphasizing the urgent need for strategic health policies to mitigate its impact.
The investigation conducted by lead author Nia Morrish and colleagues harnessed data from the Understanding Society U.K. Household Longitudinal Study, a comprehensive database containing self-reported health, wellbeing, socioeconomic, and healthcare utilization metrics gathered from over 23,000 adults between 2021 and 2023. The researchers carefully quantified NHS costs by assigning standardized values to typical healthcare interactions: £49 for general practitioner (GP) visits, £217 for outpatient appointments, and £1,111 for inpatient hospital stays. This meticulous approach allowed for precise estimations of healthcare resource consumption attributable to loneliness.
Remarkably, four in ten people in the U.K. report feeling lonely at least some of the time, with approximately eight percent indicating frequent loneliness. The study found that those who often feel lonely incur about £900 more each year in NHS expenses compared to their non-lonely counterparts. Such an excess in costs was traced to a higher frequency of GP visits and outpatient consultations, affirming that loneliness not only affects mental and physical health but also drives increased demand on healthcare services. These findings expose a significant, previously underappreciated contribution of loneliness to the strain on the U.K.’s healthcare infrastructure.
Beyond mere cost analyses, the research highlights the multifaceted health repercussions linked to loneliness. Individuals experiencing frequent loneliness consistently reported greater mental distress, reduced psychological wellbeing, and diminished physical functioning. These correlations underscore the biopsychosocial nature of loneliness, where emotional isolation translates into tangible declines in clinical health parameters. The deterioration of both mental and physical health among lonely individuals further compounds healthcare needs, perpetuating a cyclical pattern of increased service utilization and rising expenditures.
A particularly important dimension unveiled by the study is the age-related variability in the health and economic impacts of loneliness. While the NHS cost burden generally appeared to escalate with advancing age, an intriguing pattern emerged indicating a U-shaped relationship. Young adults aged 16 to 24 who reported frequent loneliness bore healthcare costs exceeding those of older middle-aged cohorts (25 to 49 years). This subtle yet significant observation challenges existing narratives that frame loneliness predominantly as a challenge affecting older populations, shedding light on the vulnerability of younger demographics in healthcare economic terms.
This nuanced understanding calls for age-specific healthcare strategies. The authors advocate for heightened awareness and tailored resource allocation for lonely young adults, whose pronounced healthcare costs reflect potentially unmet needs and possibly higher risks of mental health disorders. Simultaneously, addressing loneliness among older adults remains crucial, given the cumulative health burdens and progressively rising NHS costs observed within this segment. Such differentiated approaches are vital for efficaciously tackling the intertwined challenges of loneliness and healthcare management.
The study’s implications extend beyond the immediate UK context, serving as a global reminder of loneliness as a public health priority. The World Health Organization’s designation of loneliness as a ‘priority public health problem’ finds robust empirical support in these findings. Despite this recognition, the exact magnitude of loneliness’s economic toll within healthcare systems has been elusive until now. By quantifying these costs, Morrish and colleagues provide critical evidence to guide policymakers, healthcare providers, and community organizations in designing interventions that reduce loneliness and its attendant healthcare demand.
Nevertheless, the research acknowledges certain limitations, including the predominance of white British participants in the dataset, which restricts generalizability to ethnic minorities and other understudied groups. Future research should strive to capture the socio-cultural dimensions of loneliness across diverse populations to fully understand its health and economic impacts. Furthermore, longitudinal investigations are needed to unravel causal pathways and to assess the effectiveness of loneliness alleviation programs in reducing healthcare expenditures.
From a methodological perspective, this large-scale survey utilized robust statistical models to adjust for potential confounders, thus strengthening the validity of its conclusions. The use of standardized unit costs for healthcare utilization allowed for extrapolation of economic impacts with precision and replicability. Such technical rigor fortifies the study’s contribution to the growing body of evidence implicating loneliness as a driver of both personal suffering and systemic healthcare burdens.
The potential societal costs of loneliness extend even further when considering indirect expenses such as lost productivity, social service utilization, and long-term disability. By making visible the direct strain on NHS resources attributable to loneliness, this report charts a roadmap for multi-sectoral collaboration aimed at fostering social connection, mental health support, and community resilience. Investments in social prescribing, mental health services, and preventive interventions could not only enhance quality of life but also yield substantial savings for healthcare systems.
In sum, Morrish and colleagues deliver a decisive message: loneliness is a complex, age-variant health crisis with profound economic consequences. It demands urgent recognition and innovative solutions that bridge clinical and social paradigms. Elevating loneliness on national health agendas and integrating loneliness screening and mitigation within primary and secondary healthcare could transform public health outcomes and preserve finite healthcare resources for the future.
Subject of Research: Not applicable
Article Title: How loneliness relates to health, wellbeing, quality of life, and healthcare resource utilisation and costs across multiple age groups in the UK
News Publication Date: 3-Sep-2025
Web References: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0327671
References: Morrish N, Spencer A, Medina-Lara A (2025) How loneliness relates to health, wellbeing, quality of life, and healthcare resource utilisation and costs across multiple age groups in the UK. PLoS One 20(9): e0327671.
Image Credits: ClickerHappy, Pixabay, CC0
Keywords: Loneliness, Healthcare Costs, NHS, Mental Health, Wellbeing, Age Groups, United Kingdom, Public Health, Social Isolation, Health Economics
