Loneliness

Relevance

Social contact is fundamentally important to people: humans are social creatures. Self-assessed loneliness is a proxy indicator of whether people are happy with the amount and quality of social contact they have. As well as being an undesirable state in itself, loneliness may also contribute to poor outcomes in other areas, including adverse health problems such as stress, anxiety or depression.

Current level and trends

In 2008, 16 per cent of New Zealanders reported feeling lonely during the last 12 months. Fifteen per cent said they felt lonely sometimes, while fewer than 2 per cent said they were lonely most of the time or that they always felt lonely. In 2006, 18 per cent of New Zealanders reported feeling lonely, similar to the level in 2008.

Feelings of isolation or loneliness are strongly associated with self-rated health and overall life satisfaction. Those who rated their health as "excellent" or "very good" were far less likely to have felt lonely in the past 12 months (10 per cent and 14 per cent, respectively), than those who rated their health as "poor" (43 per cent) or who were dissatisfied with their life (61 per cent).

Figure SC4.1 Proportion of people experiencing loneliness, 2006 and 2008

Source: Quality of Life Survey 2006; Quality of Life Survey 2008

Age and sex differences

In 2008, females (18 per cent) were more likely than males (14 per cent) to have reported feeling lonely sometimes, most of the time, or always, during the last 12 months. This was the case across all age groups, particularly among those aged 15–24 years and 65 years and over.

Loneliness is most prevalent among females aged 15–24 years (23 per cent), followed by females aged 25–34 years (20 per cent). Levels of loneliness were lowest among males aged 55–64 years, males aged 65 years and over (both 12 per cent) and females aged 55–64 years (13 per cent).

Figure SC4.2 Proportion of people experiencing loneliness, by age and sex, 2008

Source: Quality of Life Survey 2008

Ethnic differences

Europeans reported the lowest rate of loneliness with 15 per cent reporting they had felt isolated or lonely in the last 12 months. In comparison, 18 per cent of Māori, 23 per cent of Pacific peoples and 24 per cent of Asian peoples reported having felt isolated or lonely in the past year.

Household type differences

People who live in one-person households and one-parent-with-children (aged under 18 years) households reported higher levels of loneliness (both 30 per cent) than other household types. People in couple-only households had the lowest level of loneliness among household types (9 per cent).

Socio-economic differences

Reported loneliness declines as personal income rises. People with personal incomes of $30,000 or less reported higher rates of loneliness than those with higher incomes. Twenty-one per cent of people with incomes of $30,000 or less reported having felt isolated or lonely in the past 12 months, compared with 9 per cent of those with personal incomes between $70,000 and $100,000, and 7 per cent of those with personal incomes over $100,000.

Figure SC4.3 Proportion of people experiencing loneliness, by personal income, 2008

Source: Quality of Life Survey 2008

Regional differences

People living in Rodney had the lowest reported level of loneliness (12 per cent). The cities of Manukau, Hamilton, Tauranga, Auckland and Waitakere had the highest levels of loneliness, with between 19 per cent and 20 per cent of people reporting they felt lonely sometimes, most of the time or always.

» View technical details about the loneliness indicator