Friendships are widely regarded as part of a fulfilling life, yet people differ in how many close friends they have, how they stay in touch and how their networks change. These friendship statistics bring together U.S. and UK survey findings while keeping each measurement period and geography explicit.
Table of contents
- Why close friendships matter
- How many close friends people have
- What close friends talk about
- How friends communicate and meet
- How friendships are formed and lost
- Friendship networks and well-being
Why close friendships matter
In a 2023 survey of U.S. adults, 61% said having close friends was extremely or very important for living a fulfilling life. That placed friendship behind an enjoyable job or career, which 71% rated extremely or very important, but ahead of several other commonly discussed life priorities. The findings are from Pew Research Center’s What do Americans think makes a fulfilling life? report.
| Part of a fulfilling life | U.S. adults saying it was extremely or very important | Period |
|---|---|---|
| An enjoyable job or career | 71% | 2023 |
| Having close friends | 61% | 2023 |
| Having children | 26% | 2023 |
| Having a lot of money | 24% | 2023 |
| Being married | 23% | 2023 |
The comparison describes perceived importance, not a causal ranking of what makes people happy. In the same Pew Research Center study, 26% of U.S. adults said having children was extremely or very important for a fulfilling life, while 24% said having a lot of money and 23% said being married. These percentages measure respondents’ views in 2023; they do not show that one life choice produces a particular outcome.
How many close friends people have
A Pew Research Center survey conducted July 17–23, 2023 asked U.S. adults about close friends while excluding family members. Eight percent said they had no close friends. A majority, 53%, said they had one to four close friends, and 38% said they had five or more. The source is What does friendship look like in America?.
Age differences appeared in the share reporting five or more close friends:
- 49% of U.S. adults aged 65 and older said they had five or more close friends.
- 40% of adults aged 50–64 reported five or more.
- 34% of adults aged 30–49 reported five or more.
- 32% of adults under 30 reported five or more.
These figures concern the number of close friends, not every social contact, follower or acquaintance. They also come from the same July 2023 survey, so the age-group comparison should be read as a snapshot of that period rather than a prediction of how friendship networks change across a person’s entire life.
Among U.S. adults with at least one close friend, 72% were completely or very satisfied with their friendship quality. In addition, 66% of U.S. adults with close friends said all or most of those friends were the same gender as them. Both findings are reported by Pew Research Center in the 2023 friendship study.
The distinction between quantity and quality matters. The survey reports both how many close friends respondents identified and how satisfied they were with friendship quality, but it does not establish that having five or more friends automatically produces greater satisfaction.
What close friends talk about
Close friendships often include practical and personal subjects. Among U.S. adults with at least one close friend in the July 17–23, 2023 Pew Research Center survey, 58% said work came up often or extremely often in conversations. Family life was close behind at 57%, while 48% said current events came up often or extremely often.
Conversation topics also differed by gender in the survey:
- 67% of women with close friends often discussed family, compared with 47% of men.
- 41% of women often discussed physical health, compared with 31% of men.
- 31% of women often discussed mental health, compared with 15% of men.
- 37% of men often discussed sports, compared with 13% of women.
- 53% of men often discussed current events, compared with 44% of women.
These are percentages within the relevant gender groups, and the survey wording identifies topics that came up often or extremely often. They should not be read as saying that women or men exclusively discuss any topic.
Age also shaped reported conversations about mental health. Thirty-seven percent of U.S. adults under 30 with close friends said they often discussed mental health, compared with 29% of those aged 30–49 and 14% of those aged 50 and older. The figures describe conversation frequency during the 2023 survey period, not a measure of mental-health need or diagnosis.
How friends communicate and meet
A later Pew Research Center report, Men, Women and Social Connections, measured U.S. adults from September 3–15, 2024. In that survey, 81% said they had at least one close friend, excluding family; 64% said they had more than one close friend; and 18% said they had no close friends.
Among U.S. adults with close friends, 74% connected with at least one of them a few times a week or more. The forms of contact varied:
| Type of connection | U.S. adults with close friends connecting at least a few times a week or daily | Measurement period |
|---|---|---|
| Any connection with at least one close friend | 74% | September 3–15, 2024 |
| Texting | 61% | September 3–15, 2024 |
| Social media interaction | 39% | September 3–15, 2024 |
| Phone or video chat | 35% | September 3–15, 2024 |
| Seeing a friend in person | 29% | September 3–15, 2024 |
The categories describe reported contact frequencies, not mutually exclusive groups. A person could text, use social media, call and meet the same friend during the same week. The figures therefore show different communication channels rather than a single ranking of friendship strength.
There was a gender difference in phone and video contact: 38% of U.S. women with close friends used phone or video chat with one at least a few times a week, compared with 32% of men. This is a 2024 U.S. finding and should not be combined directly with the 2023 conversation-topic percentages as though they came from one survey.
How friendships are formed and lost
The American Friendship Project’s The State of American Friendship: Change, Challenges, and Loss reported findings from a May 2021 survey. During the previous 12 months, 47% of U.S. adults said they had lost touch with at least a few friends, and 9% said they had lost touch with most of their friends. At the same time, 46% said they had made a new friend.
New-friend rates varied by age. Fifty-six percent of adults aged 18–29 said they had made a new friend during the previous 12 months, compared with 41% of seniors. These findings refer to the year before the May 2021 survey and should not be treated as current annual rates.
The same source asked adults with close friends where they had met a close friend. Fifty-four percent said they met a close friend at their or their spouse’s workplace. Forty-seven percent said they made a close friend at a school they currently or previously attended, 40% through their existing network of friends and 35% in their neighborhood. Because people can meet different friends in different places, these percentages are not intended to add to 100%.
Online-only connections were also part of the 2021 picture: 39% of U.S. adults said they had friendships or friends they interacted with solely via the internet. This statistic identifies the presence of online-only friendships; it does not assess whether those relationships were satisfying, durable or beneficial.
Friendship networks and well-being
UK findings provide a separate geography and older measurement period for considering friendship, social contact and life satisfaction. The Office for National Statistics reported that 95% of UK adults aged 16 and older had at least one close friend in 2011/12. In the same period, 68% of UK adults reported having between two and six close friends. See Measuring national well-being: Our relationships for the source and definitions.
An analysis of UK social capital reported a difference in life dissatisfaction by close-friend network size. In 2011/12, 26% of UK adults with no close friends reported being dissatisfied with life, compared with 14% of those with more than 10 close friends. This is an association in the reported survey data, not proof that the number of friends caused the difference. The source is the Office for National Statistics’ Measuring national well-being: An analysis of social capital in the UK.
The same UK analysis found that 34% of adults were in touch with their closest friend on most days, while 38% were in touch at least once a week. In 2012/13, 63% of UK adults met socially with friends, relatives or colleagues at least once a week, and 13% met socially less than once a month or never. In a separate 2011 UK measure, 36% of adults said they wished they could spend more time with their friends. These dates differ, so they should be kept distinct rather than treated as one annual series.
U.S. public-health data add context about loneliness and support, but the coverage is limited. A CDC analysis of the 2022 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System covering adults in 26 states found that 32.1% reported loneliness and 24.1% reported lacking social and emotional support. Among adults aged 18–34, 43.3% reported loneliness and 29.7% reported lacking social and emotional support.
The CDC analysis also reported loneliness for selected groups: 56.7% of bisexual U.S. adults and 45.9% of never-married U.S. adults reported loneliness in the 2022 analysis. These results apply to the 26-state BRFSS analysis, not automatically to every U.S. adult. They measure reported loneliness or support, not the number of close friends a person has, and they do not by themselves identify the cause of a respondent’s experience.