For a “United” Kingdom, they’re pretty lonely.

A minister for loneliness was appointed Wednesday to tackle Brits’ growing social isolation, Downing Street announced.

“Both proud and humbled to be appointed #loneliness minister,” Tracey Crouch tweeted.

Crouch, a 42-year-old minister for sport and civil society, said she was up for the task of heading a government-wide group responsible for policies connected to loneliness, the Guardian reported.

When announcing the appointment, Prime Minister Theresa May cited research stating that 9 million people often or always feel lonely.

“For far too many people. Loneliness is the sad reality of modern life,” she said.

The creation of this post comes after a report by a British commission that identified loneliness as a social epidemic.

They also found that feeling alone was as harmful as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, the BBC reported.

The cross-party commission was set up in honor of Jo Cox, a Labor Party politician murdered by a right-wing extremist in 2016, who had campaigned on the issue.

“This is an issue that Jo cared passionately about and we will honor her memory by tackling it, helping the millions of people across the UK who suffer from loneliness,” Crouch said.

About half of people 75 and older live alone — around 2 million people across the UK. They reported sometimes going weeks without any social interactions, according to the BBC.