England and loneliness

1.5 million elderly English men are expected to suffer from loneliness by 2030.[1]

Compared to deeply religious cultures where an extended family and a sense of community often exists, secular countries are often lonelier societies.

A Eurobarometer poll in 2010 reported that 37% of UK citizens "believed there is a God", 33% believe there is "some sort of spirit or life force" and 25% answered "I don't believe there is any sort of spirit, God or life force".[2] See also: British atheism

The British Humanist Society reported concerning a 2011 poll:

“  |  ...in a poll conducted by YouGov in March 2011 on behalf of the BHA, when asked the census question ‘What is your religion?’, 61% of people in England and Wales ticked a religious box (53.48% Christian and 7.22% other) while 39% ticked ‘No religion’. When the same sample was asked the follow-up question ‘Are you religious?’, only 29% of the same people said ‘Yes’ while 65% said ‘No’, meaning over half of those whom the census would count as having a religion said they were not religious.

Less than half (48%) of those who ticked ‘Christian’ said they believed that Jesus Christ was a real person who died and came back to life and was the son of God.

Asked when they had last attended a place of worship for religious reasons, most people in England and Wales (63%) had not attended in the past year: 43% of people last attended over a year ago and 20% of people had never attended. Only 9% of people reported having attended a place of worship within the last week.[3]

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## Contents

* 1 Godless Britain and loneliness
* 2 Young people in Britain and loneliness
* 3 See also
* 4 External links
* 5 Notes

## Godless Britain and loneliness[edit]

In June 2014, The Telegraph reported: "Britain ranks 26th out of the 28 European Union countries by the proportion of the population who say they have someone on whom they feel they could rely if they have a serious problem.[4]

In October 2014, The Guardian reported:

“  |  The number of men over the age of 50 suffering from severe loneliness in England will increase to more than 1 million in the next 15 years, research based on government statistics has revealed.

More than 700,000 older men already report feeling a high degree of loneliness and with the population of older men living alone predicted to swell by 65% to 1.5 million by 2030, the impact of isolation will spread, according to advice and support charity, Independent Age...

“This matters because loneliness is actually a health risk,” said Janet Morrison, chief executive of Independent Age. “If you allow people to suffer from loneliness it has the equivalent impact as smoking 15 cigarettes a day and is as big a risk as obesity.”[5]

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For more information, please see: Atheism and loneliness

## Young people in Britain and loneliness[edit]

* Generation Lonely: Britain's young people have never been less connected

## See also[edit]

* Atheism and marriage

* Atheist marriages

* Atheism and social intelligence

* Atheism and emotional intelligence

* Atheism and bitterness

* Resources for leaving atheism and becoming a Christian

## External links[edit]

* What the British ‘Minister of Loneliness’ position tells us about British culture
* Britain the loneliness capital of Europe
* Generation Lonely: Britain's young people have never been less connected
* A life alone: An epidemic of loneliness in Britain \- video

## Notes[edit]

1. ↑ [Number of severely lonely men over 50 set to rise to 1m in 15 years], The Guardian, Robert Booth,Sunday 12 October 2014 19.01 EDT
2. ↑ Special Eurobarometer, biotechnology, p. 204". Fieldwork: Jan-Feb 2010.
3. ↑ Religion and belief: some surveys and statistics
4. ↑ Britain the loneliness capital of Europe
5. ↑ [Number of severely lonely men over 50 set to rise to 1m in 15 years], The Guardian, Robert Booth,Sunday 12 October 2014 19.01 EDT