The 2025 Belonging Barometer, conducted by Opinium, is the most extensive research project on belonging ever undertaken in the UK. It surveyed 10,000 individuals across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland to explore public perceptions of social isolation, loneliness, and community connections.
The research aims to understand how people feel a sense of belonging in their communities and offers insight into the complex dynamics of social connection in the UK.
It examines the factors that shape their experience – including demographic characteristics such as age, gender, homeownership, and socio-economic status. This year’s research is also the first to track the impact of loneliness across multiple dimensions of a person’s life and sense of belonging.
We warmly invite policymakers, community leaders, academic researchers, businesses, and others to leverage this research in their work. Please cite the Belonging Forum as your source.
Insights from the 2025 Belonging Barometer will inform the Charter for Belonging—a first-of-its-kind initiative setting out guiding principles and best practices to combat social isolation and foster belonging at individual, community, and systemic levels.
We would welcome your reflections on the 2025 Belonging Barometer and your views on what effective policies to include in the Charter for Belonging that will address the pressing problems identified by the research.
