Evidence base
American Journal of Preventive Medicine
Prevalence of Loneliness States Among the U.S. Adult Population: Findings From the 2022 HINTS-6
What it found
Analysis of 2022 HINTS-6 survey data, published in 2025, finds that roughly 1 in 7 U.S. adults report severe loneliness and 1 in 5 report moderate loneliness, meaning more than 37% experience moderate-to-severe loneliness.
Why it matters for practice
This gives programme managers and funders a national baseline prevalence figure to size interventions against, but the underlying data are from 2022 and published with a three-year lag, so read it as a snapshot rather than a current trend measure.