Most Young Brits No Longer Expect a Better Life Than Their Parents

The deal used to be simple: work hard, and life would be better than what your parents had. Young Brits no longer believe it holds. The second annual UK Youth Poll, which surveyed 2,000 16 to 29-year-olds across the country, found that only 36% expect their lives to eventually be better than their parents' — a share that has fallen sharply from 63% in last year's survey.

The research was carried out by the John Smith Centre at Glasgow University and sponsored by the Nationwide Building Society. The headline number is the kind that should stop policymakers in their tracks: belief among Young Brits that their generation will live better has dropped by nearly half in a single year, and no demographic group was spared the slide.

According to the Glasgow Times' reporting on the poll, the gloom runs well beyond personal finances. More than half of Young Brits agreed that democracy in Britain is in trouble — 56%, against only 13% who disagreed. Just over half (53%) said politics in the UK has become too divisive.

What the numbers show

On national loyalty, the findings are stark. Half of those surveyed said they would never "take up arms and go to war for Britain" under any circumstances. That result cuts two ways: while it reflects what researchers describe as "cautious internationalism," it also signals a fraying contract between young citizens and the state.

There is one clear counterpoint in the data. The share of Young Brits who say they would prefer dictatorship to democracy fell from 27% last year to 17% — a meaningful shift that suggests disillusionment with how the current system works rather than with democracy itself. And just over half — 51% — said immigration had improved their communities, undercutting the loudest anti-immigration voices.

The issues Young Brits rank as most important tell a concrete story: inflation and the cost of living, the affordability of housing, healthcare, immigration and asylum, and jobs and job security. These are the daily pressures squeezing a generation.

Why optimism collapsed in a single year

In a deeper analysis of the results, the John Smith Centre dug into what changed between the two polls. As the centre's analysis puts it, the big story is how the decline swept across all young people — and how the buffers that used to protect optimism have been eroded.

In last year's poll, having a job helped. This year, being in work no longer shields Young Brits from the feeling that their lives will not surpass their parents'. The same is true of income: young people earning £55,000 or more are still somewhat more optimistic than those earning less, but the gap has narrowed sharply and both groups moved down. "In short, everyone is feeling the pinch," according to the centre's analysis.

Age now matters in a way it did not before. People in the later stages of their youth are more pessimistic than their younger counterparts, which the researchers suggest reflects the toll of work, housing, and strained finances once the insulation of family support wears thin. There is also a regional divide: the further Young Brits live from London, the more likely they are to expect a worse life than their parents'.

The anxieties driving the shift are specific. Financial and housing worries now predict pessimism; in last year's poll they did not. Meanwhile, the small degree-protection effect seen in 2025 has vanished — a degree no longer reliably buffers the sense that life will be worse than what your parents had.

What young people say about it

Centre director Eddie Barnes said the collapse was historic. "The idea that the next generation will have it better than previous ones has been a founding belief for decades," he said, according to the Glasgow Times. "Today's poll shows that the majority of this generation of young people no longer believe it to be true."

Barnes argued that locked out of the housing market, pinned down by low wages, and loaded with student debt, Young Brits feel a growing sense of unfairness. On the war question, he added: "In those circumstances, it should be little surprise that 50% say they wouldn't fight for the country under any circumstances. Or, as many young people might put it: why fight for a country that isn't fighting for you?"

Project lead Dr Elisabeth Loose pushed back on the narrative that young people are lazy or drifting to extremes. "The message from young people in this poll is clear," she said, according to the Glasgow Times: "they want politicians to deliver policies that will provide them with some financial security, and they want a more honest politics."

And there is evidence the system can still earn trust. Nationwide chief executive Dame Debbie Crosbie called the findings "a call to listen carefully and act collectively," saying that taking young people's experiences seriously could rebuild confidence and hope for the next generation.

What this means for a generation

For Young Brits themselves, the poll reads less like a verdict and more like a message. Barnes urged governments and political parties across the UK to set out practical policies that would restore young people's faith in the future. Notably, the most politically active young people are now the most pessimistic — a sign, according to the centre's analysis, that frustration is driving engagement rather than apathy.

If you are one of the Young Brits in this picture — renting, saving, or still living at home — the poll is not telling you that you are wrong to feel squeezed. It is telling the rest of the country that a majority of a generation feels the contract is broken. The housing piece of that puzzle is one we have covered before: Gen Z homebuyers are already making serious sacrifices to get on the ladder.

Optimism used to be the default setting for each new generation. This poll suggests the default has changed — and that the voices pushing for change are not the loudest, but the most frustrated. Read more perspectives in Voices.