Citizens who are lonely (based on a cut-off from a score that combines 3 questions about loneliness)

Table

Unit %

Year 2020
Province
New Brunswick
20.8
20.1 - 21.5
Health zones
Zone 1 - Moncton and South-East Area
19.8
18.5 - 21.2
Zone 2 - Fundy Shore and Saint John Area
22.3
20.7 - 23.9
Zone 3 - Fredericton and River Valley Area
24.4
22.9 - 25.8
Zone 4 - Madawaska and North-West Area
20.0
17.6 - 22.4
Zone 5 - Restigouche Area
17.4
14.6 - 20.2
Zone 6 - Bathurst and Acadian Peninsula Area
17.1
15.3 - 18.9
Zone 7 - Miramichi Area
20.6
17.6 - 23.7
Communities
Bathurst, Beresford, Petit-Rocher Area
21.4
17.8 - 25.0
Bouctouche, Richibucto, Saint-Antoine Area
17.8
14.8 - 20.7
Campbellton, Atholville, Tide Head Area
18.3
14.2 - 22.4
Caraquet, Paquetville, Bertrand Area
15.0
11.5 - 18.5
Dalhousie, Balmoral, Belledune Area
13.5
10.0 - 17.0
Dieppe and Memramcook
18.2
14.8 - 21.5
Douglas, Saint Marys, Doaktown Area
21.7
17.1 - 26.2
Edmundston, Rivière-Verte, Lac Baker Area
19.2
15.8 - 22.7
Florenceville-Bristol, Woodstock, Wakefield Area
28.1
24.2 - 32.0
Fredericton
21.0
18.0 - 24.0
Grand Bay-Westfield, Westfield, Greenwich Area
21.8
16.8 - 26.8
Grand Falls, Saint-Léonard, Drummond Area
23.3
19.1 - 27.4
Hillsborough, Riverside-Albert, Alma Area
14.9
9.4 - 20.4
Kedgwick, Saint-Quentin and Grimmer
14.5
9.2 - 19.9
Minto, Chipman, Cambridge-Narrows Area
21.7
16.5 - 27.0
Miramichi, Rogersville, Blackville Area
18.2
14.8 - 21.7
Moncton
22.4
19.2 - 25.5
Nackawic, McAdam, Canterbury Area
24.0
19.1 - 28.9
Neguac, Alnwick, Esgenoopetitj Area
22.1
15.7 - 28.4
New Maryland, Kingsclear, Lincoln Area
21.9
18.2 - 25.6
Oromocto, Gagetown, Fredericton Junction Area
23.3
19.3 - 27.2
Perth-Andover, Plaster Rock, Tobique Area
21.7
16.6 - 26.8
Quispamsis, Rothesay, Hampton Area
20.6
17.2 - 23.9
Riverview and Coverdale
17.3
13.8 - 20.7
Sackville, Dorchester, Port Elgin Area
19.8
15.4 - 24.3
Saint John, Simonds and Musquash
24.7
21.4 - 28.0
Salisbury and Petitcodiac
23.3
17.4 - 29.1
Shediac, Beaubassin East and Cap-Pelé
18.0
13.8 - 22.2
Shippagan, Lamèque, Inkerman Area
15.1
11.4 - 18.8
St. George, Grand Manan, Blacks Harbour Area
16.6
12.5 - 20.7
St. Stephen, Saint Andrews, Campobello Island Area
21.2
17.1 - 25.2
Sussex, Norton, Sussex Corner Area
21.7
17.9 - 25.6
Tracadie and Saint-Isidore
12.9
9.8 - 16.0
Age
18-64
21.1
20.2 - 22.0
65 and over
17.9
16.9 - 18.9
Sex at birth
Female
21.5
20.7 - 22.4
Male
19.0
17.9 - 20.2
Sexual identity
Minority sexual identity
33.9
29.4 - 38.4
Heterosexual
18.9
18.2 - 19.6
Language
Preferred language of service: English
21.7
20.9 - 22.6
Preferred language of service: French
16.5
15.3 - 17.7
Indigenous identity
Indigenous
28.1
23.1 - 33.0
Non-Indigenous
19.4
18.7 - 20.1
Immigrant
Immigrants
22.6
19.5 - 25.6
Non-immigrants
20.6
19.9 - 21.3
Education level
High school or less
24.1
22.9 - 25.3
Postsecondary
18.1
17.3 - 18.9
Household income
Less than $25,000
35.9
33.9 - 37.9
$25,000 to less than $60,000
22.7
21.5 - 23.8
$60,000 or more
13.3
12.4 - 14.2
Persons with a disability
Without disability
16.1
15.3 - 16.8
With disability
35.7
34.1 - 37.2
n/a = Not applicable / not available
S = Data suppressed due to confidentiality requirements and/or small sample size

About

This indicator is the percentage of citizens who are lonely. Citizens are given a 'total loneliness score' based on their responses to 3 individual question about loneliness, and a cut-off is used to identify citizens with a high score.

Source

New Brunswick Health Council, Primary Health Survey and Primary Care Survey

Calculations

This indicator is calculated by dividing the number of respondents who have a total loneliness score higher than a specified cutoff by the number of respondents who answered the following 3 questions: 'How often do you feel that you lack companionship?', 'How often do you feel left out?' And 'How often do you feel isolated from others?'. The response options for these 3 questions are: hardly ever, some of the time and often.

Notes

The 2020 edition of the Primary Health Survey (PHS) was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the pandemic did not influence the survey’s response rate, NBHC had to assess the impact of surveying during the pandemic. Accordingly, advanced statistical analyses were performed to allow for comparison between the results obtained in 2020 and those obtained in previous PHS cycles. Despite these analyses, users are advised to use the PHS 2020 data with caution, especially when creating estimates for small sub-populations or when comparing it to other PHS editions.

Unit

%

Interpretation

Lower is better

NBHC code

PH_SIL04_1

Charts

Maps