Is There Really A Global Loneliness Epidemic? We found around one in five people reported feeling lonely during a typical day. In high-income countries, 15.7% of people reported loneliness, including 16.2% in New Zealand and 17.8% in Australia. But was there evidence of a worsening global loneliness epidemic? While reported rates of loneliness rose significantly in low-income countries, they remained broadly unchanged in middle-income countries and declined in high-income countries.