The Good Childhood Report 2025

The Children’s Society annual household survey, completed in April to June 2025 by 2,007 children and young people aged 10 to 17 from across the UK, and their parent or carer.

• 9% of 10- to 17-year olds who completed our survey this year had low wellbeing (that is, they scored below the midpoint on a measure of overall life satisfaction).
• In 2025, children and young people were, on average, most happy with their family.
• School was the area of life that children and young people were most commonly unhappy with: one in nine (11.1%) of children and young people were identified as unhappy with this aspect of life (that is, they scored below the midpoint on the measure of happiness with school).
• Rising prices remained the societal issue that children and young people most commonly worried about. Two in five (40%) children and young people were ‘very’ or ‘quite’ worried about this issue. This was closely followed by crime, something that 38% were ‘very’ or ‘quite’ worried about.
• For the first time, children and young people’s top worry for their own future was getting good grades in school or college. Over two in five (43%) children and young people were ‘very’ or ‘quite’ worried about this.

Understanding Society, which is the UK Longitudinal Household Survey. The latest data, which are reported on in The Good Childhood Report 2025, are for 2022/23, when 1,623 10- to 15-year-olds completed the youth questionnaire.

• Children’s average scores for happiness with their life as a whole, family, friends, appearance, school, and schoolwork were all significantly lower in 2022/23 than when the survey started in 2009/10. It is the first time that children’s average happiness was significantly lower than when the Understanding Society survey started for all six aspects of life, including family.
• In 2022/23, children were, on average, most happy with their family and, for the first time, least happy with their schoolwork.
• In terms of proportions identified as unhappy, over one in seven (15.1%) children were unhappy with their appearance (that is, they scored below the midpoint of the scale for this measure).
• The latest Understanding Society data shows that girls remained less happy on average than boys with their life as a whole, family, appearance and school.
• The aspect of life that the largest proportion of girls were unhappy with was their appearance, with over one in five (21.2%) girls unhappy with this aspect. For boys, it was the two school-related measures that they were more commonly unhappy with, that is, their schoolwork and school: over one in eight boys were unhappy with their schoolwork (13.2%) and the school that they go to (12.7%). 

The findings from consultations with young people presented in The Good Childhood Report 2025 represent the views of 155 children and young people. We worked with a group of 10 Young Advisors, who shared their own views and conducted peer consultations with 105 other young people.  An additional 40 young people (including some who are supported by services provided by The Children’s Society) participated in a separate consultation.

• Children and young people who took part in consultations shared that societal expectations and perceived standards, experiences of peer pressure and bullying, and negative content that they are exposed to all affect the way they feel about themselves and interact with each other.
• They felt that adults did not always understand their experiences or take them seriously.
• They emphasised that school can be a source of pressure, with workload and academic demands causing overwhelming pressure, and support not always available in school when they need it.
• Young people felt that a constant stream of negative news and content, across all types of media, could feel overwhelming. They also highlighted that negative messaging about teenagers impacts how they feel about themselves, other young people and in their communities.
• Young people shared that they could feel isolated in their wider communities and lack opportunities and spaces to socialise. They felt this was linked with, and contributed to, more reliance on digital interactions, with young people searching for community and a sense of belonging online.
• Young people highlighted that they have so much to worry about. Yet, they do generally want to be active in improving things for themselves and others; however, they felt that their power was often limited and there were not always clear avenues for them to get involved.
• Young people overwhelmingly felt that they needed better support from adults – for their wellbeing, in order to improve school life and their ability to belong in their communities, to navigate digital life safely, as well as specifically to be heard by those in positions of power.

The findings from consultations with professionals presented in The Good Childhood Report 2025 represent the views of 247 professionals working with children and young people, within The Children’s Society and externally across the sector.

• Professionals felt an erosion in community mentality and loss of collective responsibility for children and young people’s wellbeing; they often used the phrase “it takes a village to raise a child”.
• Professionals cited increased pressure on the household and family unit as a common driver impacting children and young people’s wellbeing – as a result of increasing levels of poverty, poor housing and a lack of access to support.
• Professionals were also concerned about children and young people being isolated from a variety of safe adults and safe spaces to support with maintaining good wellbeing.
• Professionals also mentioned other issues in children and young people’s access to support, like a lack of universal and early support services, and a lack of flexibility within systems, as contributing to low wellbeing.
• Professionals saw a growing gap between young people’s expectations and their lived realities. This was viewed as a result of factors like educational pressure; the benefits and risks of the digital world and social media; and a perceived reduction in the options and opportunities for young people to make change in their own lives and in wider society.