I am in Australia, and in my town I dont think there is really anyone that plays either i went to Sydney yesterday and there were lots more players but thats a couple hours away from me and its rare I go there anymore since my dad passed 5 months ago so I have no one to play the game with, I tried to get my son to play it with me but he wont haha
I think a good way to make friends is to join weekly challenges with random people. I feel like people must join those because they need friends too. I found some of my oldest/best friends that way. Then hopefully they will call you to mushrooms or call others to your mushroom that you can make friends with.