NEARLY half of Britons socialise with family and friends only once a month or less, according to a survey.

The lack of human interaction is causing the nation's sense of well-being to dwindle, the Sainsbury's Living Well Index said.

Some 8,000 Britons were surveyed on everything from their sex lives, quality of sleep, finances, relationships and jobs, with an average "well-being score" of 60.4 out of 100.

The figure is 0.38 points lower than last year, which the report said was equivalent to a well-being decline associated with a £260 (or 18%) fall in the average monthly income.

Nearly one in 10 (9.1%) people said they never meet socially with friends, relatives or co-workers, while 21.4% said they did so less than once a month.

A further 17.5% only socialised once a month, according to the survey.

Sainsbury's carried out the report in partnership with the National Centre for Social Research and Oxford Economics.

It said the results prompted a scheme to offer its 178,000 employees the opportunity to spend a day volunteering under its 150 Days of Community initiative.

Simon Roberts, Sainsbury's retail and operations director, said: "Our ambition is to help our customers to live well for less - it's been at the heart of the company since we began 150 years ago.

"Sainsbury's Living Well Index has found that over the last 12 months there has been a decline of the sense of community the nation feels as a whole, which has had a significant impact on our sense of well-being."

The volunteering scheme will "help bring back a sense of community for our customers and colleagues", he added.

Working baby boomers' index scores fell "dramatically" - by 1.76 points on average - in the last 12 months, more than four times the average.

Authors of the study said the "key driver" was a decline in social connections (down 0.36 points) and relationships (0.29 points).

In total the overall score for June 2019 was almost a full point lower than in autumn 2017, when the first index was published.

People were asked about a total of 60 different aspects of their lives.