The UK's teenagers have the lowest levels of happiness and life satisfaction in Europe, a new study has found.
The Good Childhood Report 2024 was compiled by Christian charity, The Children's Society, which said it painted a "deeply worrying picture" about how young people in the UK feel.
The report is based on the findings of The Children's Society's own annual household survey in 2024 and an analysis of data from 27 European countries belonging to the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).
The report reveals that a quarter of 15-year-old students in the UK (25.2%) reported low life satisfaction in 2022 - the most recent data available - a far greater proportion than the 16.6% average across the same age group in the other 26 countries.
By contrast, only 6.7% of Dutch teens reported low life satisfaction.
UK girls are significantly unhappier than their peers in other European countries. Nearly a third (30.9%) of UK girls aged 15 reported low life satisfaction, compared to only one in five (21.4%) of the same age across Europe.
Life satisfaction for both young girls and boys in the UK declined between 2015 and 2022 more rapidly than other parts of Europe - by 1.03 points for UK girls, compared to 0.77 points for girls on average across Europe, and 0.80 points for UK boys, compared to 0.41 points for boys on average across Europe.
The UK has some of the highest rates of food poverty in Europe with one in 10 UK 15 year olds (11%) skipping meals at least once a week because of financial pressures - putting the UK above only Bulgaria, Romania, and Lithuania.
UK youths aged 10 to 17 from financially strained households were found to have lower low life satisfaction than their peers in more affluent households.
Commenting on the findings, Children's Society Mark Russell, said that "alarm bells are ringing".
"UK teenagers are facing a happiness recession, with 15-year-olds recording the lowest life satisfaction on average across 27 European nations," he said.
"It's time for change, and we're committed to leading the way."
