A mere 8 per cent of young adults aged under 30 report feeling positive about their mental wellbeing, amid concerns about financial challenges related to securing their own home or starting a family, research published today has shown.
The research carried out by Ipsos on behalf of the National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI) found that a third of respondents “rarely or never” feel optimistic about their future.
Published on Tuesday, the findings saw the Youth Council express concern about the “long-term impacts on social cohesion if young people feel increasingly alienated, unsupported and deprived of opportunities.”
750 people aged 18-30 were surveyed fior the research, which found that rarely or never feeling optimistic about the future was higher among those aged 27-29 (39 per cent felt this way) and young women across the entire age range (38 per cent).
50 per cent of those surveyed said their mental wellbeing was low. Questioned on what they felt were the three biggest social or political challenges facing Ireland, 67 per cent of those surveyed listed housing, while 62 per cent said cost of living. Immigration was the third biggest challenge those surveyed listed, with 28 per cent saying this.
Unemployment, mental health, and crime were also commonly cited in the survey.
52 per cent of people surveyed said they still lived with their parents, with this proportion being higher in rural areas (62 per cent) than in urban areas (49 per cent).
Just 13 per cent of those surveyed owned their own homes, commonly through a mortgage. However, some 51 per cent of homeowners had received assistance from parents when securing a spot on the property ladder.
According to the research, those aged 18-22 expected to be able to buy their own home by age 30.4 years, while those aged 27 to 29 believed they would realistically be in a position to buy a home at 36.9 years of age.
While 52 per cent of respondents said they were broadly happy with their living circumstances, among women exclusively, this dropped to 43 per cent.
Those renting their homes were generally more negative than those living in the family home or owning their own home – with 39 per cent of those surveyed reporting being happy with the amount of space they had, and 50 per cent saying they were satisfied with the quality of where they were living.
Cost was a major concern, with 1 in 5 people surveyed (22 per cent) having skipped meals due to costs. In addition, more than half of those with rental or mortgage payments said they had seen an increase in the past year.
Many respondents reported having to cut back on aspects of their spending to survive financially. 44 per cent said they feel financially ‘worse off’ than the previous year.
One young participant in the study, a female from Cork, in the 27-29 age category, shared her difficulties in the property market: “I never thought about leaving the country until last year, and now me and my partner have decided to go to New Zealand. The housing situation is so bad here I have had a lot of friends leave. I didn’t think we would be next, but unfortunately we are,” she said.
Many respondents said that concerns around accommodation, childcare and healthcare were concerns that would delay their aspiration to start a family. Among those who did not have children, 31 was the average age respondents suggested they would like to start a family.
Paul Gordon, NYCI Director of Policy and Advocacy, said that the report’s findings were “alarming” and “should serve as a wake-up call to Government to address some basic unmet needs for young people.”
“Young people’s fear of being worse off than their parents is real, driven by housing challenges and economic precarity. More than half live with family, one in two have experienced rent increases in the past year, with some facing rises of up to 30%, and this is pushing aspirations of home ownership further out of reach. Shockingly, one in five young people have skipped meals due to cost,” Mr Gordon said.
The research also reported young women being worse off than their male counterparts, with Mr Gordon saying this was a “striking” aspect of the research.
“Compared with young men, women reported worse mental and financial wellbeing, lower satisfaction with pay and conditions, were coping worse with the cost-of-living, are more likely to feel they are worse off than their parents’ generation,” he said.
“In response, we are calling on Government to take a far more coordinated approach to tackling the economic and social challenges facing young people by moving quickly to establish a Cabinet Sub-Committee on Young People.”
Mr Gordon concluded: “The findings paint a picture of a generation for whom the basic social contract appears broken, with hard work no longer a guarantee of security. Our recommendations aim to restore hope and support for young people, many of whom are despondent about their future.”
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This is not surprising and is the reason why people need to go down the rabbit holes. When you are bombarded with constant hegelian dialects, fear porn and constant psychological warfare supported by our governments and not just here, you feel useless and unempowered. Once you jump down the rabbit holes and realize that this is all a staged attempt to destroy you and everything around you to make you give up. You are their enemy and they do not want a strong you. They dont want you to realize that you are a strong unique individual who has more value than the whole lot of them together and they have designed the system so that only the corrupt and weak win. Its done intentionally and is the reason why we have a tea boy in charge of the titanic right now. Do yourselves a favor, jump down the rabbit holes and see the reasons why they do this. Once you see it, the world makes alot more sense because none of what they do or say makes sense. Once you see it, you cant unsee it. Thats called the truth. We are the special unique people, not them. They have literally done everything to run you and everyone else into the ground so you feel like crap. Once you see the truth, you not only feel free but a whole lot better too.
well said
Thanks peeps, appreciate it.
Great comment James.
Thanks Frank, appreciate it.
Pity they didn’t interview our emigrants in Australia, NZ, Canada, USA, many of whom want to come home and rear their children here. That survey might reveal a far harder truth, that the young Irish have been chased out of their own country and the bogus have been planted in the housing that should be for our own.
problem is this government is more focused on non Irish health issues,but you get what you voted in qute whoor politics,our public services are third world standard,as we treat political families like god’s here ie haughey family , time for more home brew than multi national Guinness, wake up Irish before the government sells the roofs over your heads or have they!!!
Thank God for the cabinet sub committee, if it wasn’t for that I’d up and leave the country to the immigrants it deservedly belongs to.
I though once we had gay marriage and abortion and free contraception and as many genders as you could wave a stick at, all the young people’s problems were sorted. Is it possible the Government lied to me?
take a drive to clonmel drive around it has no identify or culture bleak and randown through years of no funding by government or local government, just your average town so it represents this article,so where did all the money go or who got it!!! people need to ring your TDs and county council tops and ask how we got here and where’s the money or who pocked it!!! well your parents siblings fellow citizens voted these thieves in.