How many U.S. adults feel lonely? A new report looks at the numbers.

Loneliness isn't just a feeling—it's a public health concern. A new report has taken a look at how many adults in the United States are experiencing it. The goal was to get a sense of the scale of the issue across the country. The report doesn't give us specific numbers, percentages, or compare different groups of people. It also doesn't explore what might be leading to these feelings or track changes from year to year. Because it's a single report, we can't use it to prove that loneliness is getting better or worse. What it does do is put a spotlight on loneliness as something affecting many people, which is an important first step in understanding a complex human experience.