UK Youth Poll 2025 highlights key concerns for Gen-Z

The results of 2025’s UK Youth Poll have highlighted the key areas of concern for young people, including social media, politics, and toxic masculinity.

The survey, published by Glasgow University’s John Smith Centre, polled the 16–29-year-old demographic, resulting in some interesting findings regarding young peoples’ priorities.

The economy is seen by young voters as the most important issue facing the UK.

The top anxieties for youngsters were found to be financial worries (37%), work pressures (23%), and job insecurity (20%), with social media (14%) and climate change (10%) lagging far behind.

Eddie Barnes, director of the John Smith Centre – which was set up to encourage young people to get involved in politics – said: “In the interviews that we did, young people were talking about how they are simply surviving until the end of the week. The idea of building a career was something for the future.”

Attitudes to social media were also made clearer, with 67% of young people saying they would support banning social media for under-16s

Barnes added: “Young people are aware that they’re living in very serious times. So they’re not dismissing so-called culture war issues as being unimportant, but they have more pressing matters that concern their daily lives.”

Concerns about finances and job security have been proven to lead to poor mental health and ‘diseases of despair’, with people more likely to drink, smoke, or do drugs.

Attitudes to social media were also made clearer, with 67% of young people saying they would support banning social media for under-16s.

The negative impacts of social media on mental health and self-image perceptions are widely recognised, while it has also been pointed to as a leading cause of the rise in toxic masculinity.

67% of respondents felt that toxic masculinity was becoming more common, with 21% disagreeing. Meanwhile, 42% thought feminism had done more harm than good, as opposed to 45% in disagreement.

Despite recent claims that younger people are increasingly favouring authoritarian rule, democracy was supported over dictatorship by 57% to 27%, although 63% of young people agree that “democracy in the UK is in trouble”

Concerns about contemporary politics were also made more apparent in the poll.

Despite recent claims that younger people are increasingly favouring authoritarian rule, democracy was supported over dictatorship by 57% to 27%, although 63% of young people agree that “democracy in the UK is in trouble”. Additionally, 72% think British politics has become too divided.

Looking ahead, 70% of respondents in full-time work are optimistic about their personal future, while just 44% of those unemployed share this view. Those not holding qualifications at degree level or above were far less likely to believe their vote could help shape the local area.

Nevertheless, the majority of young people remain optimistic about the future, with 72% claiming they are “either rather or very happy”.

Such an outlook suggests that many young people still want to play a part in society, despite data which would indicate that their faith in democracy is dwindling.