Community cohesion

Data, insights and analysis on the ways community cohesion shapes our health

People who don’t feel a sense of belonging in their neighbourhood are four times more likely to experience poor mental health

This chart shows the proportion of people experiencing severe psychological distress in 2020–21 according to whether they felt like they belonged in their neighbourhood.

• Among people who don’t feel like they belong in their neighbourhood, 27% experience severe psychological distress.
• This is 4 times higher than the proportion experiencing severe psychological distress among people who do feel like they belong in their neighbourhood (7%).

Comparison to 2017–18 data shows that although the association between neighbourhood belonging and mental health was especially strong during the COVID–19 pandemic, people who don’t feel like they belong in their neighbourhood were still far more likely than people who feel they belong to experience distress in the pre-pandemic period. While the pandemic likely increased the importance of connections to the community due to the restrictions in place, feelings of neighbourhood belonging appear to be important for mental health regardless of restrictions.

People who don’t feel they belong in their neighbourhood are more likely to experience poor mental health, regardless of their age

This chart shows the impact of belonging to your neighbourhood on the proportion of people experiencing severe psychological distress in 2020–21, broken down by age group.

• People in all age groups are more likely to experience severe psychological distress if they feel they don’t belong in their neighbourhood.
• Feeling like they belong in their neighbourhood has the biggest impact on health for people aged 35–44, who are 4.8 times more likely to experience severe psychological distress if they don’t feel they belong. This is followed by people aged 55–64 (4.6 times) and 65+ (3.9 times). 
• Neighbourhood belonging matters the least for health for people aged 25–34, who are only 3 times more likely to experience severe psychological distress if they don’t feel they belong.

Regardless of whether they rent or own their home, people who don’t feel they belong in their neighbourhood are more likely to experience poor mental health

This chart shows the proportion of people experiencing severe psychological distress in 2020–21 according to whether they feel like they belong in their neighbourhood, and broken down by housing tenure.

• Across all housing tenures, people who feel they belong in their neighbourhood are less likely to experience severe psychological distress than people who don’t feel they belong.  The association is strongest for outright home owners:
  • Outright homeowners are 4.5 times more likely to experience severe psychological distress if they do not feel they belong (21%) than if they do (5%).
  • Private renters, who are 3.6 times more likely to experience severe psychological distress, and people in social housing, who are 2.7 times more likely.
• Private and social renters are more likely to experience psychological distress, regardless of neighbourhood belonging. 9% of private renters and 11% of social renters who feel they belong in their neighbourhood experience severe psychological stress, compared with 4.6% of outright owners. Other building blocks of health (housing stability and security, income) likely play a role in explaining this. 

Older people and people with higher incomes are more likely to feel they belong in their neighbourhood

This chart explores the varying proportion of different social groups that feel they belong in their neighbourhood.

• Similar proportions of women (61%) and men (60%) feel they belong in their neighbourhood.
• Older people aged 65 years and older (74%) are more likely to feel they belong in the neighbourhood than adults aged 35–64 (57%). Adults aged 35–64 are also more likely to feel they belong in their neighbourhood than young people aged 16–24 (51%) and 25–34 (47%).
• People in households with the highest fifth of incomes (64%) are more likely to feel they belong in their neighbourhood than people in the households in the bottom two fifths of incomes – 2nd quintile (59%) and lowest quintile (57%).
• Residents of Northern Ireland (75%), Scotland (67%) and Wales (64%) are the most likely to feel they belong in their neighbourhood. Within England there is little significant variation between regions.
• There is no significant variation in feelings of neighbourhood belonging by disability status.
• It has not been possible to draw conclusions on the relationship between ethnicity and neighbourhood belonging, because of small sample sizes when the data is broken down by ethnic group.