For this year’s applicants, loneliness tends to co- exist with disadvantage: applicants with a disability or health condition are considerably more likely to be always or often lonely. 2024 2023 6% 5% 20% 19% 26% 29% 14% 16% 25% 9% 6% 25% Figure 6: How often do you feel lonely? Comparison of 2023 and 2024 data All the time Most of the time At least once a week At least once a month Only rarely Never Loneliness Levels of loneliness among applicants seem to be more polarised this year. More applicants are lonely all or most of the time (26% compared to 24% in 2023) but at the same time more are rarely or never lonely this year (34% compared to 31% in 2023). For this year’s applicants, loneliness tends to co-exist with disadvantage: applicants with a disability or health condition are considerably more likely to be always or often lonely (43%) and loneliness increases dramatically between socioeconomic group A (22%) and group E (54%). Unite Students | Applicant Index Report 20 BACK TO THEMES INTRODUCTION THEMATIC ANALYSIS SOCIAL METHODOLOGY TOPICAL ISSUES