Youthline ASB State of the Generation 2026
Real insights from young New Zealanders about the biggest issues they face in Aotearoa today.
Understanding what matters to our youth is key to supporting them. This report, brought to you by Youthline and supported by ASB, presents new, nationally significant findings capturing what matters most to young people in Aotearoa New Zealand and the issues impacting their wellbeing.
It reveals a generation of young New Zealanders grappling with today’s rising living costs, job concerns, limited access to mental health support and constant societal pressure in an always-on digital world.
The research is evidence-based, policy-relevant and offers critical insights into the lives, challenges and outlook of young people. It’s based on a nationwide, representative survey of rangatahi aged 12 to 24 years of age (50% aged 12-17; 50% 18–24) conducted from 28 January to 16 February 2026 by research company TRA.
Issues facing young people today
1. Mental health
From their own perspective, the most important issue facing young people today is mental health, yet many say they feel the system is falling short, with the biggest concern cited as a lack of support, with long-wait times and limited access to services reported as key barriers.
“We are losing so many young people to mental health and the mental health system in New Zealand is hopeless.”
The four most important issues young people identified were:
59%
Mental health issues — the #1 most important issue
52%
Lack of job opportunities
40%
Bullying — with 27% saying it feels inescapable in today’s online world
38%
Money worries, driven by rising living costs
While 52% of 12-24-year-olds questioned only use positive words to describe how they feel, 38% use both positive and negative words and 10% only use negative words, such as “stressed,” “anxious,” or “lonely”, underscoring the scale of the issue.
Negative feelings and worries about the future were most acute among the older 18-24-year-old age group (14% compared with 10%) and the rainbow (21%), disabled (20%) and neurodiverse (17%) communities.
2. Cost-of-living
Youth wellbeing continues to be negatively impacted by the wider issues facing New Zealand society. Many young people reported stress around affording basic needs, including food, bills and housing, with concerns particularly acute among 18–24-year-olds, while 47% of 12-17-year-olds say they are worried because their parents/whānau are stressed about money.
“It’s hard to live with how
expensive everything is.”
3. Social Pressure
A quarter of young people report feeling under relentless pressure to ‘have everything together’ driven by expectations from adults, their peers and social media, contributing to stress and a lack of wellbeing.
“It feels like we’re under constant pressure – from adults, from social media – to have everything figured out.”
4. Phone addiction, social media and AI
While mental health is considered the most important issue, phone addiction and screentime (66%) and social media (65%) are the two most common issues faced by young people today.
“We’re not living life — we are just living through our phones.”
AI was also a concern with 49% saying they were ‘a little worried about AI’ and 20% they were ‘very worried about AI’. Key AI issues include uncertainty about what’s real and what isn’t (65%), fears around misinformation (61%) and its impact on future job options (57%).
“Because AI is moving at a very fast pace sooner or later it will take over many jobs and aspects of life. Also people these days cannot tell what is real or AI.”
Where they go for support
When they do need help, most young people turn to their parents or carers (53%) or a friend (49%). But nearly a quarter use social media to find other people going through similar things, especially TikTok (67%) and Instagram (51%), while a further 20% are talking to AI chatbots.
Counselling (29%) and helplines (17%) are recognised as the most effective formal channels of support
A third want easier access to mental health support.
“Make support feel normal, and faster help when someone is actually struggling. A lot of young people aren’t mentally ill, they’re isolated.”
Youthline
Youthline is the first mental health organisation young people think of and the first they reach out to for support, but 41% of young people were unable to name a single mental health organisation.
Young people want Youthline to play a broader role – supporting them with life skills (46%), delivering more programmes in schools (45%) and helping connect them to other mental health support (43%).
Above all, young people want to feel heard. Listening and showing empathy is the most important thing Youthline can do to help young people
“Honestly just being there. Being able to listen is a lot.”
This research was proudly supported by
