ONE in ten young persons are unhappy with their lives, the Children’s Society’s Good Childhood Report 2025 has concluded. This yr, the research for the report, released yesterday, included consultation with ten young advisers and other young people.
The 155 ten- to 17-year-olds who took part within the research said that peer pressure, academic expectations, social media, and concerns concerning the world have put them increasingly under pressure; school is a first-rate reason for anxiety for a lot of them. The charity is looking for a whole-school and whole-system approach to well-being, and the continued roll-out of mental-health teams.
Last yr’s report suggested that children within the UK experienced among the lowest levels of well-being across Europe (News, 30 August 2024). This yr, their mean happiness scores were significantly lower than when the surveys began in 2009/10 — findings that showed that life was “just too tough” for a lot of young people, the chief executive, Mark Russell, said.
Six elements of life were examined: school work, appearance, family, friends, the varsity they went to, and their life as an entire. School work was found for the primary time to be the aspect of life which the biggest proportion of kids (11 per cent) were least completely satisfied with. One in seven were unhappy with their appearance: “There is a typical being pushed to what everyone should seem like, and that plays a giant role with satisfaction in the event you don’t feel such as you meet that,” one said.
Consultations with young people took place between March and September and with 247 professionals between April and June. It also includes findings from the Society’s 2025 household survey (carried out between April and June) of greater than 2000 ten- to-17-year-olds and their parents or carers.
In rating the importance of elements of life for their very own future, 18 per cent of young people rated getting good grades at college or college. On broader issues in society, rising prices apprehensive them most.
School itself can feel like a stressful environment, lacking spaces where children and young people could be alone and calm down after they must, the report finds.
“Young people describe the workload they need to cope with at college as overwhelming. They also described a college system during which it appears like academic achievement is placed above other sorts of achievement.
“They highlighted that in the event that they are encouraged or expected to spend less time on their phones, there must be provision of positive activities for them to redirect their focus to.”
Significant contributors to the general decline in children’s well-being were identified by professionals to be increasing levels of poverty, poor housing, and fogeys’ and carers’ decreased access to holistic support, alongside practical and emotional issues. An absence of access to external resources similar to youth clubs was also raised by advisers.
Many respondents spoke about what they saw as an increasingly behaviour-focused educational system with more punitive policies at school which can lead to children being blamed and shamed for things outside of their control.
The report acknowledges a growing recognition of the necessity to support children and young people’s well-being and mental health through initiatives similar to the expansion of mental-health teams and the progression of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill through Parliament.
It says: “Questions remain as as to if piecemeal announcements will ever match the ever-growing need to handle the complex challenges that young people face. Delays to policy initiatives, whether that be strategies or funding, simply enable the issue to grow.”
Mr Russell said: “Our report shows we want to accomplish that far more to make sure every child has the perfect start in life. But I genuinely consider solutions are possible. With the best support and opportunities in place, we may help quiet the noise and create a world where teenagers feel heard, supported, and hopeful a couple of positive future.”
