The Centro Reina Sofía de Fad Juventud, in cooperation with the Fundación Mutua Madrileña, has published recently the Barómetro Juventud, Salud y Bienestar 2025 (2025 Youth, Health, and Welfare Barometer), a benchmark study that analyses physical, emotional, and social health of young people in Spain throughout almost a decade.
The report is based on a survey of 1511 young people from between 15 and 29 years, and is part of a series of biennial research studies that started in 2017. This allows to identify trends, changes and challenges within youth welfare.
One of the main conclusions is the recovery of positive perception of health after several years marked by the pandemic. 65 % of young people evaluate their health status as good or very good, the best registered data since 2020, even though it remains below the levels observed before the health crisis.
Despite the general improvement, mental health still is one of the main reasons to worry. More than the half of young people affirm having experienced a psychologic, psychiatric, or mental-health problem during the past year. Anxiety remains as the most frequent diagnosis, followed by depression, and other emotional disorders.
The study also focuses on unwanted loneliness, a reality that affects a great part of youth. According to the barometer, 87,5 % of young people declare having experienced feelings of loneliness during the last year, a figure that keeps increasing compared with previous editions.
Additionally, the results show that welfare and discomfort experiences are not distributed homogeneously. Yung women, people with greater economic difficulties, and those disposing of less support networks present less favourable indicators of health and welfare.
This reinforces the need to tackle youth health from a comprehensive perspective that takes into consideration social, economic and relational aspects that determine youth’s life trajectory.
The Youth Chair at the Universitat de València considers especially relevant the spreading of these evidences, since they contribute to having a better understanding of the needs, concerns, and strengths of young people. Inversion highlights that promoting youth welfare requires not only actions within health field, but also politic actions that foster social inclusion, educational opportunities, emancipation, and community participation.
