The price of being alone: Canada's loneliness epidemic
August 4, 2025
We're facing something of an isolation epidemic in Canada. A Statistics Canada survey,updated in February 2025, showed that more than 1 in 10 Canadians aged 15 and older say they always or often feel lonely. But if you think loneliness is just a personal problem that affects individual well-being, think again. This epidemic has a price tag.
The billion-dollar blues
Let's talk numbers, because loneliness speaks fluent economics. Research shows that loneliness costs employers approximately $154 billion annually in the United States alone, contributing to worker job-withdrawal and reduced organizational effectiveness.
More than a third of older Canadians (aged 65 and up) report feeling lonely, according to a report from Women's College Hospital in 2023. Yet this isn't just a loneliness problem – it's a showing up to the emergency room more often problem. Beyond the sadness of this fact, this can also prove costly to our healthcare system.
The math is straightforward: lonely people get sick more often than those who aren’t, visit doctors more frequently, and require more medical interventions. Scale that across Canada's aging population, and the healthcare costs start adding up faster than your grocery bill.
“Establishing strong social support systems is key to overall wellbeing, aging well and resiliency during tough times,” says Dr. James Aw, Chief Medical Officer, OMERS, where he provides medical expertise on health and wellness for pension members, employees, portfolio companies and investments in healthcare. “Loneliness,” he adds, “particularly in the young and elderly, is an independent risk factor for mental health and poor physical health outcomes.”
The workplace loneliness tax
The impact of loneliness is even felt at work. Lonely employees miss more days and report being less engaged in their jobs, costing billions of dollars in lost economic productivity.
Think about it from a business perspective: if one-third of your workforce feels isolated, you're not just dealing with a human resources challenge – you're looking at a fundamental threat to productivity and profitability. Lonely employees are more likely to quit, less likely to collaborate effectively, and more prone to burnout.
“Studieshave shown that loneliness in the workplace is linked to increased anxiety, depression, burnout and decreased job satisfaction,” adds Dr. Aw. “Chronic stress from loneliness is also a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and poor self-rated health. Unhealthy employees create unproductive teams. Employers can mitigate risk by creating a more socially connected, inclusive and psychologically safe work environment.”
With chronic loneliness associated with more physician visits, increased risk of heart disease and dementia, and an assortment of other health risks, the ripple effects are everywhere. Emergency room visits increase when people have no one to call during a health scare. Mental health services see higher demand when social support networks are weak. Even routine medical appointments become more complex when patients lack the social connections that typically help with recovery and medication compliance.
The compound effect of isolation
Like any good economic problem, loneliness has a compounding effect. The lonelier people become, the more they withdraw from social situations, making it even harder to form new connections. It's like reverse networking – instead of building valuable relationships, people actively avoid the very interactions that could help them.
This creates what economists might call a negative feedback loop. Reduced social interaction leads to poorer mental and physical health, which leads to higher healthcare costs and reduced productivity, which puts additional strain on both individuals and the broader economy.
The bottom line
The pandemic gave us an unexpected lesson in social isolation, and the results weren't pretty. While we focused on avoiding physical sickness, the mental and social health costs were quietly accumulating in the background.
The good news? Unlike some economic challenges, this one has solutions that don't require massive government spending or complex policy changes. Sometimes the most cost-effective intervention is the simplest one: encouraging genuine human connection.
Whether that's through workplace social initiatives, community programs, or just making time for coffee with a colleague, the return on investment in social connection might be one of the best deals available in today's economy.
After all, in a world where everything seems to have a price tag, friendship might be our most valuable – and cost-effective – resource.