Youth Wellbeing in the Digital Age: A European Perspective
How digitalisation shapes the wellbeing of young Europeans — opportunities, risks, and the policy gaps that remain.
Digital Lives and Wellbeing Outcomes
Young Europeans are the first generation to have grown up entirely within a ubiquitous digital environment. Understanding how this shapes their wellbeing — both positively and negatively — is a scientific and policy priority for WISE Horizons.
The analysis draws on survey data from 12,000 respondents aged 16–30 across eight EU member states, supplemented by qualitative interviews exploring subjective experiences of digital platforms, work and civic engagement.
Principal Findings
Digital connectivity correlates positively with civic engagement and access to economic opportunity, particularly for young people in peripheral regions where local labour markets are thin. Young people in smaller cities who participate regularly in online professional communities report comparable career confidence to peers in major urban centres.
However, the same data reveal a robust association between heavy social-media consumption and reduced self-reported life satisfaction among respondents aged 16–22, a pattern robust across gender, income and country sub-groups. Screen-time regulation and digital literacy education emerge as high-priority policy levers.
Read the full youth wellbeing report and access the interactive data explorer.
