Almost half of adults under 35 are struggling to function in daily life.
That is the astonishing finding of a new global report — which shows Canada is no exception to the worldwide trend.
“Today almost half [of adults under 35] suffer mental health challenges of clinical significance that substantially impact their ability to function productively in daily life,” says the 2025 Global Health Mind Report, released in late February.
By contrast, the report shows older adults are doing fine. Globally, adults 55 and older have on average healthy mind health scores.
And counterintuitively, wealthier, more developed countries see worse outcomes, despite spending more on mental health care.
This spending “has not moved the needle,” the report concludes. And that’s because the spending does not address the root causes of young people’s malaise.
These root causes are not the ones you would expect.
Finland, for example, consistently ranks at the top of the annual Global Happiness Report. Yet the Finnish population’s mind health is middle of the pack.
The difference comes down to what is measured. The happiness researchers ask individuals to self-assess their life satisfaction. The researchers have found that six variables — including GDP per capita, social supports and life expectancy — broadly explain variations across countries.
By contrast, the mind health researchers ask respondents to rate how they respond to challenging situations in daily life.
These researchers have identified four factors as being most predictive of low mind health: diminished family bonds, diminished spirituality, smartphones at a young age, and increased consumption of ultra-processed foods.
Bet you didn’t see those factors coming. We didn’t either.
Fortunately, these factors provide a roadmap for governments — and individuals — interested in changing the status quo.
“These factors provide levers for countries to reverse the growing mind health crisis among their younger generations,” the report says.
“This is particularly relevant and important given that mind/mental health outcomes bear no correlation to spending on mental health care or psychiatrists and therapists per capita.”
But in Canada’s case at least, it means policymakers will need to reorient their priorities.
As we have written repeatedly, Canadian governments have been shamefully slow to regulate youth social media access and smartphone use in schools. While other countries and states have moved boldly ahead with strict age- or school-based bans, Canada has dithered.
On ultra-processed food consumption, our record is even worse.
Last May, Canadian Affairs reported that there are no regulations specifically targeting ultra-processed foods. This is despite a growing body of evidence linking UPFs to obesity, disease and mental health challenges.
So far, Canadian regulators’ efforts to combat obesity have centred primarily on Canada’s Food Guide, a set of dietary recommendations Canada has been publishing since 1942 and periodically updates.
More oversight of these potentially toxic food products is needed. And as Canada starts to fund a national food program in schools, it must mandate that schools serve unprocessed foods.
On family bonds and spirituality, the government’s role should be more limited.
“While family closeness arises in large part from cultural values, they can also be enabled by policies that address challenges of proximity and time scarcity for family engagement,” the report says.
Here, provincial governments could perhaps require or incentivize employers to adopt workplace policies that protect employees’ off-hours or preserve workers’ ability to work remotely.
For spirituality, Ottawa can at most help foster a robust civic sector.
For example, it can ensure faith groups retain their charitable status, enabling them to fund their activities through members’ donations. The Trudeau government had considered a proposal to do the opposite, a move that would have been a death knell for many religious organizations.
But without saying it directly, the report also underscores the role of civic society — and families in particular — in cultivating health and resilience.
Certainly, this applies for food consumption and smartphone access. But it especially applies to family bonds and spirituality, which the report defines as a sense of connection to a higher or divine power.
The fact that so many young people today are unable to navigate life’s challenges and function effectively is as much a failure of parents and communities as it is a government failure.
So ask yourself this: what can you do in your own life to build up the proverbial village it takes to raise a child?
