A new Sapien Labs report on global mind health among young people found that youth in sub-Saharan Africa fare better than their counterparts in higher-income countries, while highlighting a general global decline in youth mind health worldwide.
Sapien Labs’ analysis of data collected from nearly one million people across 84 countries reveals that 41% of the world’s internet-enabled young adults (ages 18-34) face a “mind health crisis” with declines in cognitive, emotional, social, and physical capacities that substantially affect their ability to navigate life’s challenges.
The findings, released today as part of the Global Mind Health in 2025 report by Sapien Labs, a Washington, DC-area nonprofit led by experts in neuroscience, psychology and computational science, draw on data gathered through online surveys conducted across Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas.
The study shows a concerning decline in the mental health of younger generations globally, while also revealing significant regional differences.
Notably, young adults in sub-Saharan Africa consistently outperform peers in higher-income regions, including North America, Europe and parts of Asia.
Ghana ranks first globally, followed by Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Tanzania, making the top five countries entirely African.
Golden age
As of the early 2000s, this age group enjoyed “the greatest well-being of all age groups”; today, the trend has reversed.
Today’s young adults are four times more likely than those over age 55 to experience mental health challenges of clinical significance that substantially impact their ability to function productively in daily life.
The Global Mind Health in 2025 report attributes this shift to several interconnected factors, including smartphone adoption during childhood, increased consumption of ultra-processed foods, deteriorating family bonds, and diminished spirituality, with countries ranked across each of these dimensions.
“The mind health crisis appears to be a progressive slide from generation to generation and goes far beyond rising rates of depression and anxiety,” said Tara Thiagarajan, PhD, lead author of the report and Sapien Labs’ founder and chief scientist.
“We assessed a wide range of capacities essential for navigating life’s challenges and found that many young adults are struggling.
“Alongside depression and anxiety, they often experience challenges across emotional control, handling relationships with others, and their ability to focus.”
The strong performance of several African countries suggests that protective factors may be contributing positively to outcomes.
Young adults in parts of sub-Saharan Africa reported the strongest spirituality globally, later adoption of smartphones during childhood, and closer family bonds compared to peers in wealthier regions.
Tanzania, for example, ranks highest globally in spirituality measures and has the oldest average age for smartphone adoption despite moving from first place overall last year to fifth this year.
Kenya and Nigeria also rank among the top globally, with Kenya showing improvement compared to previous years.
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Mental health challenges
Despite regional differences, the generational gap remains consistent worldwide, with older adults maintaining significantly stronger mental health outcomes than younger populations.
Previous Sapien Labs research revealed that this gap began developing before 2020 and widened significantly during the Covid-19 pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, when the mental health of young adults ages 18-34 declined sharply while older generations experienced only a relatively minimal decrease.
Over the past five years, this gap has remained largely unchanged.
Thiagarajan noted that policymakers should pay close attention to the broader economic implications of a growing number of young people entering the workforce with compromised mental health.
While noting that there are many causes of the decline, the report highlights four primary factors contributing to youth mental health challenges globally: early smartphone adoption during childhood, increased consumption of ultra-processed foods, weakened family bonds, and diminished spirituality.
Each of these areas is associated with an increased risk of mental health difficulties and a reduced capacity to manage life’s demands.
Sapien Labs used the survey data to produce a mind health quotient or MHQ score, an assessment of an individual’s overall mind health defined as the full complement of emotional, social, cognitive, and physical capacities required to navigate life, work, and relationships effectively.
South Africa scored an average MHQ of 98 for those aged 55+ but only 39 for those aged 18- 34 (46 out of 84).
There were notable geographic disparities in the findings, suggesting a potential inverse relationship between national wealth and youth mental health outcomes.
Young adults (18-34) in sub-Saharan Africa scored far better than peers in higher-income regions, including the US, Canada, Europe, India, Japan, and Australia, which were near the bottom of the rankings.
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Contributing factors
The data also showed that young adults in many sub-Saharan African countries scored higher across the four key contributors to mental health — for example, reporting stronger spiritual connections and later adoption of smartphones during childhood.
However, in all countries, internet-enabled young adults still fared worse than older adults.
“In the US, spending on mental health research and care has risen dramatically, by billions of dollars, as it has across Western countries.
“And while important, it’s not moving the needle,” she said.
“We need to stop chasing the symptoms and instead begin tackling the broader problems that erode the productivity and well-being of young adults around the world.
“For example, policy interventions that limit smartphone access in childhood and consumption of ultra-processed foods help safeguard the mind health of the youngest generations — without them, the global economy will flounder for the next several decades.”
The report points to specific policy actions that can reduce their harms, particularly harms caused by early adoption of smartphones and increased consumption of ultra-processed foods.
For issues linked to smartphones, the report calls for wider adoption of policies that ban their use during school hours and establish minimum age requirements for using social media.
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For ultra-processed foods, the report calls for new investments in research that can uncover the risks associated with the many different types of colours, flavours, preservatives, emulsifiers and other additives found in these products — and provide evidence to support regulations that can reduce their use.
“When you see evidence that almost half of all young adults globally — the heart of the workforce — are struggling with an array of mental health challenges, that means we are facing a crisis that can undermine the health of entire economies and societies,” said David Blanchflower, PhD, professor of economics at Dartmouth College.
“It’s a clear signal that we need to act to address the root causes.”
