A new international survey examined the connection between the youth mental health crisis and Canada’s skyrocketing cost of living.

The research, by the Policy Institute at King’s College London and Ipsos Canada surveyed people across generations in Canada, the U.K. and Australia.

It found that nearly two-thirds of Canadians blame youth mental health problems on the increased cost of living, which was significantly higher than findings from the U.K. and Australia.

“It doesn’t surprise me at all,” Johnny Morris, CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association British Columbia division told Global News.

“It all adds up to, I think, a pressing reality for young people. We hear from young people, and I think this is borne out in the data that they are concerned about the future of the world in many ways.”

Morris said that climate change, global security, conflict and being able to afford a house and save money are the things most young people are concerned about.

In 2023, the McCreary Society, which works to improve the health of B.C.’s youth, found that 22 per cent of youth reported having an anxiety disorder while 18 per cent reported having ADHD or attention deficit disorder.

5:00 Self-compassion and mental health

Morris said young people are more willing to talk about their mental health now and it is getting easier to draw attention to these issues.

“We’ve heard time and time again from young people where (they’re) tired of waiting for the solutions and (they’re) done with stigma,” he said.

“There may be stigma in other generations, but in our world, (they’re) ready to talk about these issues. (They’re) ready to talk about (their) mental health.”

According to the research, three-quarters (74 per cent) of those who say mental health problems were just as common among young people in the past nonetheless feel it’s a good thing that we’re better at identifying such issues today, while one in seven (15 per cent) say it’s a negative development.

“What shines through this set of opinions is the failure of older generations to take responsibility for this health and social crisis and to respond to the facts,” professor Pat McGorry, executive director of the Orygen Institute in Australia said in a statement.

“We must engage with the reality, understand the forces causing this threat to society and act now. We have some immediate solutions and must find more.”

4:07 The mental health impact of too much debt

The research found that on most topics, Canadians’ views are in line with their peers from Australia and the U.K., but on others, Canadians are slightly more likely to feel that young people have it worse today.

Seventy-two per cent of Canadians aged 30 and over said the ability to afford things has become worse for young people today, compared with 62 per cent in the U.K. and 65 per cent in Australia of the same group.

Sixty per cent of Canadians aged 29 and under said future prospects are worse for young people today compared with their parents’ generation — similar to the 57 per cent of this group who said the same in the U.K. but higher than the 51 per cent who held this view in Australia.

“When we think about resilience and repeated exposure to to difficult circumstances, I mean, we can’t forget that the pandemic took a hit on collective resilience, right?” Morris said.

“Young people’s worlds were turned upside down in lots of ways. Their learning environments, their ability to socially connect with their peers, all of those things that drive resilience, being connected, having a sense of purpose and knowing where you’re headed and having a safe place in the world, whether that be in schools or at homes.

“And of course, there’s a whole lot of young people who experience heightened vulnerability because they experience racism, they experience poverty, they experience food insecurity. We mustn’t forget those factors on resilience, too.”

The International Association for Youth Mental Health Conference, being held in Vancouver, has provided a number of resources for mental health support on its website.

The Canadian portion of this research was conducted via the Ipsos Canada Online Omnibus and included 859 adults in Canada aged 30+ and 142 aged 29 and under. Fieldwork took place from 24–27 Jan 2025.