NEW DELHI: Indian youth performed poorly in their Mind Health Quotient scores, ranking 60th out of 84 countries featured in an ongoing global study of mental health.
The study conducted by US-based Sapien Labs Global Mind Health in 2025 also revealed that young Indians in the age group of 18-34 years not only scored poorly globally, but also performed worse on mental health measures compared to older Indians above 55 years, who ranked 49th.
According to the study, young people in India had an average MHQ score of about 33, which fell under the “struggling or struggling” category, while those over 55 years of age had an average of about 100, which fell into the “managing or succeeding” category.
“Since we started measuring in 2019, the mental health of adults ages 55 and older has held steady at scores around 100, which is exactly where a normal population would be expected to be on the MHQ scale. On the other hand, young adults under 35, who were already struggling compared to their parents and grandparents before the COVID-19 pandemic, took a steep decline during the pandemic from which they never recovered,” Tara Thiagarajan, founder and chief scientist at Sapien. Labs said in the report.
Geographically, 18-34 year olds performed worse than older adults in all countries.
Those countries with relatively better mental health are mostly located in sub-Saharan Africa and include Ghana, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Tanzania.
Countries at the bottom include Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, and China.
Finland, which consistently tops the World Happiness Index based on its ranking of life satisfaction, ranks 28th out of 84 countries for the mental health of over-55s, and 40th out of 84 for those aged 18-34.
The report, which uses data from more than one million participants using the internet in 84 countries in 2024 and 2025, looks at different aspects of modern life that are exacerbating mental health in global youth.
The surprising aspect of this decline in mental health in younger generations is that it is more pronounced in wealthier, more developed countries, Thiagarajan said.
“To solve this problem, we will have to address its root causes rather than just treating the symptoms. For the past four years, we have been investigating these root causes to understand which aspects of modern life have led to diminished family ties, diminished spirituality, smartphones at an earlier age, and increased consumption of ultra-processed foods driving this trend,” she said.
The report notes that those with poor family relationships are almost four times more likely to have mental health scores in the distressed or struggling ranges: 44% in those who don’t get along with anyone in their family, compared to 12% in those who are close to multiple family members.
In a study linked to brain health among Internet-using adults in India, proximity to family was found to be of much greater importance for brain health and well-being than income.
In India, nearly 64% of respondents in the 18-34 age group reported being close to their family, while the number was higher at about 78% for those over 55 years of age.
The global average age at which young people got their first smartphone was 14, while in India it was 16.5 years.
Consumption of ultra-processed food was also higher among India’s youth at 44 per cent compared to the older generation at 11 per cent.
The report noted that spending on mental health research and care has risen significantly across Western countries over the past decade, but outcomes have not improved and become worse in many countries.
“The United States, for example, spent $2.2 billion on mental health research in 2024 alone, and more than $100 billion in annual expenditures for treating mental disorders among adults aged 18 and over, adding up to more than $1 trillion over the last decade. In the United Kingdom, the National Health Service spent £12 billion on mental health services in 2021-2022,” the report states.
“However, despite this scale of investment, outcomes have not improved and are worse than in many countries with minimal per capita spending on mental health care. At best, current spending has largely supported models of research and care that provide additional symptom relief without addressing the root causes,” the report added.
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