A study by the University of Sheffield has named Edinburgh as the loneliest city in the UK, with almost a third of residents feeling uninvolved in their local community.

The BBC-commissioned study revealed that 33.1 per cent of people living in the capital consider themselves distanced from their local community, five percentage points higher than the Scottish average.

The study is based on the number of non-married couples in a given area, combined with the number of one person households. Within the capital the Holyrood area stood out, with an astonishing 86.6 per cent of people falling into the "lonely" bracket. Balerno, Prestonpans and Linlithgow were seen as the most community rich areas, with only 21 per cent or residents likely to feel lonely.

The findings of the report have caused some concern at the city council. Steve Cardownie, deputy leader of the council, told the BBC that he was surprised by the results, as well as pointing to the student community as a potential source of perceived unhappiness.

“I think these figures could come from the fact we have a large university base as well as a large financial sector," said Mr Cardownie, "with young professionals who move here to work and live on their own as they don't have a family yet.

"The council does its best to encourage people to join in with their community with, for example, notices in libraries in different languages, and we have a translation service.

"I don't think anyone before the BBC has done such an extensive study so I think we should investigate and utilise these findings."

Stoke-on-Trent had the least amount of lonely residents, with 22.4 per cent falling into that category.

Edinburgh’s results follow a wider pattern of increased social segregation. Dr Dan Vickers, one of the report´s authors, said: "Evidence from this study and other investigations show that the UK is becoming an increasingly fragmented society. Neighbourhood types that were common forty years ago had a real sense of community from the stability provided from a population core that was generationally attached to the area they called home.”

He added: “In modern Britain it is increasingly less likely that young adults live with, or close to other generations of their family, but they are increasingly more likely to live among others who are demographically similar to themselves."

The fact that single occupants are presumed as lonely has led to some criticism. Of the students The Journal spoke to, none believed that living alone was an automatic sign of a lonely life, but most added that they would rather live with friends.

Cllr Cardownie said that a “general change in the way we live” may have impacted upon the capital's results. He added: “We can order our groceries online, have our cars parked right outside our doors to whisk us off to work and people are downloading films and watching sport on multi-channel packages at home instead of going to the pub to watch them.”