Theme deep dive · Mental Health & Wellbeing
Headline stat
83%
say stress, anxiety, or depression are widespread among youth (2026)
Kectil Youth Speak 2025 and 2026
87%
say most youth are addicted to social media
82%
say social media harms self-esteem and mental health
69%
say youth lack affordable healthcare, down from 73%
Three things the data shows
Agreement that stress, anxiety, or depression are widespread eased from 86% to 83%.
Agreement that most youth are addicted to social media eased from 90% to 87%.
Concern about alcoholism as a major youth issue fell from 77% to 68%.
2025 vs 2026
Top-2-box agreement (rated 4 or 5 on a 5-point scale) for each tracked statement in this theme, sorted by largest year-over-year movement.
Social media addiction, mental-health stress, and healthcare weakness remain highly visible to youth.
Colored cells with an arrow mark statistically significant year-over-year changes at the 95% confidence level: green-teal for favorable shifts, red for unfavorable shifts. Gray cells without an arrow are not statistically significant.
Highest 2026 signal
Most youth are addicted to social media
87%
Largest YoY movement
Alcoholism is a major youth issue
-9 ptsFavorable
Alcoholism is a major youth issue
COVID-19 exposed healthcare-system weaknesses
Drug abuse is a major youth issue
Youth lack affordable healthcare
Most youth are addicted to social media
Stress, anxiety, or depression are widespread
Social media harms self-esteem and mental health
Source: Kectil Youth Speak annual comparison tables, chart 39. Thinking about mental and physical health in your home country... Base sizes: 2025 n=2,252; 2026 n=2,706. Measure: % selected top-2-box, rating 4/5 on a 5-point scale. Colored background + arrow = 2025-vs-2026 difference is statistically significant at the 95% confidence level (two-proportion z-test; run only when both years have at least 35 respondents). Gray = not a statistically significant change.
2026 slide preview
These selected slide previews keep the deep dive connected to the presentation-ready Youth Speak evidence.
Slide 13
A headline mental-health slide for overview and theme context.
Slide 39
The first final-deck mental and physical health trend slide.
Slide 40
A health trend slide focused on healthcare access.
Slide 41
The 2026 regional differences view for mental and physical health.
Slide 42
The year-over-year regional mental and physical health comparison.
Related deep dives
Continue to other theme deep dives, or use the Data Explorer to compare focused questions across themes.
