Why is the need to belong considered a need and not a want?

The need to belong is called a need, rather than merely a want, because when it is thwarted, people suffer more than just being unhappy. (A want is something that we can live without; a need is something that we have to have in order to be healthy.)Failure to satisfy the need to belong leads to significant health problems, including a higher risk of death. Death rates from all kinds of diseases are higher among people without social connections than among those with social connections. People who are alone in the world have more physical and mental health problems than people who belong to a good social network. Even apart from specific diseases,abundant evidence indicates that people who have more and better relationships live substantially longer than those who lack them. Loneliness is hard on the body, impairing its natural powers including the immune system and its ability to recover from sickness or injury.
There are plenty of other benefits to belonging. Recent work has even linked belongingness to the meaning of life. Feeling connected to a strong network of relationships makes people see life as more meaningful.Conversely, a lack of social connection can make life seem relatively meaningless.