Nearly two-thirds of British teenagers will suffer from a mental health condition or behavioural disorder by 2030, a new report has found.
The report, from Zurich Insurance, found that having a mental health issue now falls within the majority of teenagers between 15 and 19.
They estimate 51 per cent of people within that age bracket have a mental or behavioural disorder, such as anxiety, depression, or ADHD.
If the current trend continues, by 2030, they suggest it will reach 64 per cent.
The estimates raise serious concerns, as the numbers threaten to worsen the youth unemployment crisis.
Struggling with mental health is becoming increasingly common amongst young people, with anxiety pointed to as the leading cause.
The report found that more than 10.5million Britons will suffer from anxiety by 2028, an increase from 8.7million in 2025.
It blamed poor mental health within young people in the UK on “reduced stigma, social media exposure, academic pressure, economic uncertainty and strong engagement through schools and universities”.
Social media has also been linked with the spike
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Will Shield, a professor of child psychology at the University of Exeter, told the Telegraph: “There is a risk that we’re over-medicalising normal childhood or teenage experience.
“But I think we have to ask why people are using this language to describe themselves.
“I think it is because society and things are really hard at the moment. It’s far easier to try to make sense of your experience through that lens of ‘I fit into this box’ or ‘this is why I find things so challenging’.”
Research from the Resolution Foundation has also found that children in the UK are among the most miserable and anxious.
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| GB NEWSNye Cominetti, from the Foundation, said: “The UK, when you compare it to other countries, looks really, really bad on young people’s health.”
When looking at those estimated to suffer from depression, he said: “We are worse than any other OECD country.
“On anxiety, we also look really bad.”
Mr Shield continued to say: “The children I work with are far more eloquent when they talk on mental health now and far happier to talk about what wellbeing means – what poor mental health looks like and what they can do about it – than they were when I started my career 20 years ago.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch have both cautioned against “overdiagnosis” of mental health conditions.
Mr Streeting said the Government cannot “sit back and ignore the rise in mental health problems in our society.
“Doing so would leave a generation of people to suffer alone and leave our economy and society deprived of their talent and potential.”
Peter Hamilton, from Zurich, said: “The rise in youth mental health care needs is the start of a wave that will shape the UK’s workforce for a generation.
“Unless we intervene, mental health risks will become a persistent drag on productivity, economic growth and social mobility.”