Europe, especially the European Union, is one of the most prosperous regions in the world. Yet many young people living within its borders face a happiness recession, with experts raising increasing concerns about their mental health. While in a recent report the United Kingdom was named Europe’s unhappiest country for youth in 2024, in many other countries, including Greece, young people report a decline in life satisfaction.
The 2024 Youth Childhood Report, released by the Children’s Society, a UK-based charity, found that on average, 16.6 percent of European youth are dissatisfied with their lives, which is equivalent to about one in six across the continent.
The United Kingdom reported the highest level of low life satisfaction among 15-year-olds, with 25.2 percent, followed by Poland (24.4 percent) and Malta (23.6 percent). The lowest levels were reported in Nordic countries, with the Netherlands having the lowest rate of life dissatisfaction among 15-year-olds (6.7 percent).
In Greece, 19 percent of youth say they are not happy with their lives, almost three percent above the European average of 16.6 percent.
What’s behind Europe’s (and Greece’s) youth unhappiness
The study focuses on children in the United Kingdom and points to financial limitations, the rising cost of living and other life issues, including online safety and a declining mental heath among 15-year-olds, as some of the reasons behind the decline in their well-being.
Yet similar trends are being seen across Europe, where according to UNICEF, the United Nations children’s agency, the percentage of 15-year-olds reporting high life satisfaction dropped from around 74 percent in 2018 to 69 percent in 2022, in the 23 European countries for which data is available.
High poverty rates are a main contributor to the decline of happiness among European youth, with approximately 20 million children (about one in four) at risk of poverty or social exclusion, UNICEF reports.
Greece has one of the highest rates of children at risk of poverty and social exclusion across Europe.
According to EUROSTAT’s latest data, 28.1 percent of Greek children aged 0 to 17 (about three in ten) are at risk of poverty and social exclusion, while the European average stands at 25.3 percent. The data places Greece in the fourth highest place in Eurozone’s 20-member bloc, behind Bulgaria (33.9 percent), Spain (34.5 percent) and Romania (39.8 percent).
“It [poverty] has a long term impact on children. It’s not just a child living in poverty, and as soon as they grow up and get a job they will be out of it. It affects their bodies, their mind and their prospects as well for the future,” Dr. Ally Dunhill, director of policy, advocacy and communications at Eurochild told Euronews.
Gen Z: Isolation, social media, delinquency and a declining mental health for youth in Europe
Many have dubbed Gen Z (those aged between 12 and 27 year old) as the saddest generation and the one with the worst mental health.
Experts have been talking about a loneliness epidemic that has been gripping the planet, especially teenagers. According to a Gallup and Walton Family Report, close to half of young people say they feel unable to face the future, while over 50 percent of Greek teenagers report that they feel social pressure to show that they are OK.
Greek psychologist Nikos Nakopoulos tells the Vima newspaper that “It’s kind of logical that the people of this generation are not thrilled, because they know they will have to work for little money compared to the financial demands of our time, either doing what they like or—as is usual—doing something they don’t like.”
He adds that the impact of the pandemic and lockdowns on youth mental health should not be ignored.
“For many people, life was on pause for two years,” Nakopoulos says. “It’s like they didn’t live. They lived minimally. It’s not normal that socialization, through the most active stage of your life, is done through a screen. We are not robots. There is a false sense of closeness, because of the screen and the chat, yet it’s not a real contact where there’s body language and touch.”
While most studies stress the negative consequences social media and online addiction can have on teenagers’ mental health, experts say that the effects of online experience on children are complex to measure. At the same time, the negative impacts of digital media on children, such as addiction, isolation and reduced social confidence are undeniable.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
