In partnership with Nationwide Building Society, the John Smith Centre is delighted to publish the UK Youth Poll 2026, their annual report on the United Kingdom’s young people, their priorities and needs, and their perspective on the nation around them.
Run by Focaldata and sponsored by Nationwide, the poll began with a series of qualitative interviews and focus groups with young people across the UK. After reviewing this data, a survey was conducted with a representative sample of 16–29-year-olds on everything from the state of UK democracy to their own feelings of happiness, many based on the issues they had raised with us in the qualitative phase.
The UK Youth Poll is co-produced by students from the University of Glasgow who take a course in polling techniques and design most of the questions.
Young people’s belief that they will be better off than their parents has collapsed dramatically.
In just one year, optimisim about surpassing their parents’ living standards has fallen from 63% to 36%, while the share expecting to be worse off has more than doubled. Housing, job insecurity, and cost of living pressures sit at the heart of this shift. Even those who feel optimistic about their personal lives often describe their wider future as precarious. Young people consistently compare their prospects with previous generations – single-income mortgages, secure jobs and affordable housing – and find the gap impossible to ignore. These findings point to a deepening generational inequality that cuts across education, income, and political identity.
Contrary to public narratives, young people are not turning away from democracy.
Agreement with the statement ‘I would prefer to live in a dictatorship’ has fallen sharply from 27% to 17%, while strong support for core democratic rights remains high. Yet this commitment is paired with frustration: many feel democracy is ‘in trouble’ and that politicians do not listen to young people.
As with last year’s poll, financial worries are at the top of young people’s list of priorities and fears.
Given a list of things that might worry them, the top three are ‘Financial worries’, ‘Job insecurity or unemployment’, and ‘Housing instability’. And given a list of things that might make them feel happier or more satisfied, young people rank ‘Higher wages or financial stability’ first and ‘Affordable housing’ second. Compared to last year’s polling evidence, young people are getting more – not less – worried about their financial plight.
The biggest fear that young people have about Generative AI is its impact on jobs.
Asked to rank the biggest threats of artificial intelligence from a list of eight, 26% put ‘Loss of jobs’ first and 55% rank it as a top three concern, higher than all other categories. The biggest benefit young people identify is AI’s potential to support learning. 21% rank it as the number one benefit and 53% rank it in the top three.
Despite, or perhaps because of, a tumultuous global context, half of young people (51%) are unwilling to take up arms and fight for Britain.
Instead, they generally see a supportive role for the UK in the world, with a majority thinking that it has a responsibility to intervene to help countries facing a range of challenging situations (giving an average answer of six on a 0–10 intervention scale). And two thirds are willing to at least consider the UK’s making reparations to former colonies (28% say should, 38% say maybe). Generally speaking, young people are averse to war but outwards looking in their views of the UK’s responsibilities on the global stage.