The Problem

Loneliness - and not being understood

American society rests on an assumption that families take care of their own. But 15 million Americans 50 and older didn’t have any close family — spouses, partners, or children — in 2015, the latest year for which reliable estimates are available. Most lived alone.

There are 12 million adults in the U.S. living without a spouse or partner. Many are single by choice, others are widowed, or divorced. They may be childless or, not in touch with their children or other family members. Consider the Gen Silent LGBTQ community. By 2060, that number is expected to swell to 21 million.

Beyond that, millions of seniors living alone aren’t geographically close to adult children or other family members. Or they have difficult, strained relationships that keep them from asking for support.

Among elders older than 75, loneliness happens by way of;

• Aging in Place - 44% are women living alone.
• Living in Institutions  - 61% of older people living in care homes are moderately lonely. 35% are severely lonely; most live in depression. 1, 2
• Estrangement - 27% of families in the U.S. live closed off from one another.

Moreover, according to a study published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in 2020, as many as 43 percent of all adults aged sixty and older in the United States report feeling lonely—and these are the pre-pandemic numbers.