in 7 to 1 in 6 men—report having zero close friends
The statistic you're referencing is about the male loneliness epidemic. Here's the context:
The "1 in 6 men have no close friends" statistic
This comes from survey data tracking male friendship over decades. The key findings:
- In 1990, only about 3% of men (roughly 1 in 33) reported having no close friends.
- By the early 2020s, that number had risen to roughly 15% (1 in 6-7 men) - a dramatic increase over ~30 years.
- The data is most associated with the Survey Center on American Life (part of the American Enterprise Institute), particularly surveys conducted around 2021.
What counts as a "close friend"?
The surveys typically define close friends as people you can confide in, rely on emotionally, or turn to in a crisis - not just acquaintances or coworkers.
Why the rise?
Research points to several overlapping factors:
- Men tend to form friendships through shared activity (school, sports, work) - and those structured contexts disappear after young adulthood
- Men are less likely than women to initiate or maintain emotional friendships
- Rising remote work and suburbanization reduce incidental contact
- Longer working hours and family demands squeeze out social time
- Cultural norms discourage men from expressing vulnerability or need for friendship
The health stakes
Social isolation carries real health consequences - comparable in mortality risk to smoking 15 cigarettes a day, per research by Julianne Holt-Lunstad. Isolated men also show higher rates of depression, substance use, and suicide.
The "1 in 7 to 1 in 6" phrasing likely reflects the range across slightly different survey years or question wordings - both are drawn from the same body of data showing a roughly 5x increase in male friendlessness since 1990.
How many people are lonely in the world
Searching the Web
how many people are lonely in the world 2024 2025 statistics
Here's what the best available data shows:
How Many People Are Lonely in the World?
The Big Number
According to the Meta-Gallup survey of 142 countries (the largest study of its kind), nearly 1 in 4 people worldwide - over 1 billion people - feel very or fairly lonely. And that figure likely understates the real number because China (the world's second most populous country) was not included in the survey.
A broader estimate from other research puts global loneliness as high as 33% of adults, which at ~8 billion people would be roughly 2.6 billion.
By Country (Gallup/Meta data)
The loneliness burden is not evenly distributed:
| Country | Loneliness Rate |
|---|---|
| Brazil | ~50% |
| Turkey | ~46% |
| India | ~43% |
| Russia / Eastern Europe | Among the highest |
| Northern Europe | Among the lowest |
Who Is Loneliest?
This is a surprising finding - it's not the elderly:
- Young adults (19-29): 27% report feeling lonely - the highest of any age group
- Adults 45+: Majorities say they are NOT lonely
- Older adults (65+): Only 17% feel lonely - the lowest rate globally
- Institutionalized older adults: A striking 50.7% report loneliness
A 2025 meta-analysis in Nature covering 1.25 million older adults found a prevalence of 27.6% among that group specifically.
The U.S. Picture
- ~21% of U.S. adults feel lonely (Harvard's Making Caring Common project, May 2024)
- ~52 million Americans reported feeling lonely "a lot" on a given day in 2024
- An APA 2025 survey found 6 in 10 U.S. adults feel a lack of companionship or feel left out often
- 69% of U.S. adults said they needed more emotional support in the past year than they received - up from 65% in 2024
Why It Matters
The WHO declared loneliness a global public health priority in 2023. Research consistently shows chronic loneliness carries health risks comparable to smoking 15 cigarettes a day - raising risks of heart disease, stroke, dementia, depression, and early death.
Bottom line: Somewhere between 1 and 2.6 billion people experience meaningful loneliness globally, depending on how strictly it's measured. The most rigorous cross-national data (Gallup/Meta) lands at over 1 billion as a conservative floor.
This is a shared conversation. Sign in to Orris to start your own chat.