Sixty-one percent of American adults say they’re lonely. Sixty-one percent.

Think about that.

You probably missed this information, but loneliness was recently listed as an epidemic by the US Surgeon General and the World Health Network. That’s how big of a deal this is.

Namely, because loneliness leads to fatal medical conditions. If you’re lonely, you’re more likely to die by heart attack or stroke, more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression, and significantly more likely to read stupid things on the internet like this.

Last year, 870,000 deaths were attributed to loneliness. The number grows each year.

But here’s where things get interesting. The loneliest demographic in America isn’t who you think it is.

You’re probably envisioning a mass of white-haired, elderly souls, trapped inside assisted-living facilities, forlorn, eating cold clam chowder, constantly being exposed to dangerous amounts of “Live with Kelly and Mark.”

But if you want to see the loneliest people in America, look no further than our young people.

According to recent studies, two in three young people are lonely. It’s gotten so bad that academic researchers have termed this generation “the loneliest generation” in history.

But why? How can we all be so lonely?

As futuristically modern humans, we are more connected than ever. We have ka-trillions of digital connections in our pockets. At any given moment, if we wanted to, we could communicate with ALMOST ANYONE IN THE WORLD.

Doesn’t matter. We’re lonely. Really lonely.

And you can see these lonely people when you’re out in public. Maybe when you’re shopping. You might not notice them right away, they blend in.

They might not be exhibiting symptoms, and I doubt whether they’ll be wearing a T-shirt that reads: I’M LONELY! In fact, they might be wearing a political T-shirt that you disagree with.

But they’re starving to death. When you look at them, try to stare past the T-shirt. They are giant NICU babies, walking around this planet, dying from lack of affection. Desperately looking for love.

This year, 20 percent of young people in this country, ages 12 to 19, will be diagnosed with depression. Two-point-eight-million kids will run away from home, this year alone. Five percent of ALL Americans will admit to having thoughts of suicide.

But I know the solution. And the solution, you see, is reading these words right now. We need each other. More than ever.

So get out there and change the world.

And if not the whole world, at least 61 percent of it.