समाचार

If your car broke down, or your week fell apart, who would you ring? For most people the answer comes quickly. For a growing share of young adults around the world, it does not. A chapter in the World Happiness Report 2025 reports that 19 per cent of adults aged 18 to 29 said in 2023 that they had no one to count on for social support. It is a worrying figure, but it comes from one survey question and is not a full picture of anyone's social life.

What the researchers did

The figure comes from Chapter 5 of the World Happiness Report 2025, titled "Connecting with others: How social connections improve the happiness of young adults". The authors are Rui Pei and Jamil Zaki of the Department of Psychology at Stanford University, and the version used here was last updated on 13 March 2025. The report is an annual publication on wellbeing around the world.

The chapter draws on two sources. One is the Gallup World Poll, which includes young adults in 168 countries from 2006 to 2023. The other is the Global Flourishing Study. The 19 per cent figure comes from Gallup data, and it is important to be clear about the date: the data are from 2023, not 2025, even though the report was published in 2025.

The support question is a simple one. Respondents are asked whether they have relatives or friends they can count on for help when needed. A person who answers no is counted as having no one to count on.

What they found

In 2023, 19 per cent of young adults across the world reported having no one they could count on for social support. The chapter describes this as a 39 per cent increase compared with 2006. That is a relative increase, meaning the share grew by about two fifths of its starting size, not by 39 percentage points.

The chapter gives some further detail. Each year, an extra 0.1 per cent of young adults reported having no one to count on, which the authors say amounts to roughly 1.7 million more young adults worldwide each year. In 2006, young adults were 6 per cent more likely than adults aged 60 and over to report having someone to rely on. Since 2020, that gap has shrunk to less than 1 per cent, which the authors read as a drop specific to young adults.

The chapter also reports some results that point the other way. In the Global Flourishing Study, young adults were generally more socially connected than older adults, and three countries, Mexico, India and Egypt, showed increases in the quality of social connection among young adults. In Australia, Japan and the United States, however, young adults reported the lowest quantity of social connection of any age group.

What this does and does not show

These are survey answers collected at the population level. They show a pattern and a direction of travel. They do not explain why the share has risen, and they do not show what is happening in any individual life or in any one Australian community.

A single yes-or-no question about having someone to count on cannot capture all of social connection. It does not say how many friends someone has, how close those friendships are, whether people feel lonely, or whether they would reach out if they needed to. Someone might have people available but feel unable to ask. Another might say no today and have support next year.

The figure is also a global average. Countries differ widely, and the chapter points to changes in both directions across the countries it examined. The data are from 2023, so they do not tell us how things look now.

The chapter also links social connection with wellbeing, noting that young adults with more and better connections tend to feel more satisfied with life. That is an association, and the authors describe the evidence on young people in the United States as preliminary.

This topic may be useful for parents, students and community groups, but it does not apply the same way to everyone. If someone in your life is struggling and has no one to turn to, a GP or counsellor is a good first step. In Australia, Lifeline (13 11 14) is available at any time, and 000 is the number to call in an emergency.

Questions to ask

• If something went wrong tomorrow, who could I ask for help, and have I ever told them that?
• What makes it hard for me, or for a young person I know, to ask someone for support?
• Where in my community, such as a club, class or volunteer group, could a young adult meet people in a low-pressure way?

Source: Connecting with others: How social connections improve the happiness of young adults (World Happiness Report 2025, Chapter 5) DOI: 10.18724/whr-zc5n-4f96

Illustration of having someone to turn to when life becomes difficult. AI-generated editorial illustration. This article summarises published research in our own words and is general information, not personal health advice.