Story #7 – Social Isolation and Loneliness in Canada
A wide-ranging study, conducted in partnership with Cardus, explored the quality and quantity of human connection in the lives of Canadians today, revealing significant segments of society in need of the emotional, social and material benefits connectedness can bring. Fully six-in-ten Canadians (62%) said they would like their friends and family to spend more time with them, while only 14 per cent of Canadians would describe the current state of their social lives as “very good.”
The study sorted Canadians along two key dimensions: social isolation (or the number and frequency of interpersonal connections a person has) and loneliness (or their relative satisfaction with the quality of those connections). From these and other findings, a detailed portrait of isolation and loneliness in Canada emerged, placing Canadians into five groups: The Desolate (23%), the Lonely but not Isolated (10%), the Isolated but not Lonely (15%), the Moderately Connected (31%) and the Cherished (22%).
Explore the story here: http://angusreid.org/social-isolation-loneliness-canada/
