The share of US men with no close friends rose from 3% to 15%

The number

The share of US men reporting no close friends rose from 3% in 1990 to 15% in 2021 — a roughly five-fold rise — according to the American Institute for Boys and Men's review of US datasets including the 2021 American Perspectives Survey (over the same period, the figure for women went from 2% to 10%). ^[1]

the loneliness epidemic is not a blanket crisis for men in particular

^[1]

What it does and doesn't establish

Male friendship networks really have thinned faster than women's over three decades — that specific male deficit is well documented. What the number does not establish is a distinctly male loneliness epidemic: on headline measures US men and women report loneliness at broadly equal levels, and the same AIBM review concluded the crisis is not male-specific. Full context: Is there a male loneliness epidemic?