.svg){kind=small}
.svg){kind=small}
Nearly Two Thirds of UK Young People Are Optimistic
The United Kingdom Youth Poll 2026 caught my attention.
It was produced by the John Smith Centre at the University of Glasgow, a non-partisan organisation working to open the doors to public life for young people, in partnership with Nationwide Building Society. The poll is based on 211 qualitative interviews, three focus groups and a national survey of 2,051 young people across the UK. It was also designed in the spirit of “for young people, by young people,” with University of Glasgow students helping choose themes and shape the questions.
The finding that struck me most is this: 63% of young people in the UK say they are optimistic about their personal future.
That is a powerful finding.
Amid what the researchers describe as cost-of-living pressure, housing anxiety, job insecurity, AI disruption, political mistrust and gloomy news, most young people in the UK see something positive ahead in their own lives.
As Eddie Barnes, Director of the John Smith Centre, put it, young people remain “broadly optimistic about their future” and want to engage in politics and public life.
That combination matters. This is not a simple story of youthful despair. Nor is it a simple story of carefree confidence. It is a story of optimism under pressure.
The report finds that the sources of hope are often close to daily life: family, friends, pets, becoming more independent, moving towards career goals, and making life decisions. That rings true. Optimism often begins close to home, in the next decision, the next friendship, the next opportunity, the next act of courage.
There is another finding that needs careful handling. In response to a second question, only 36% of young people in the UK said they believe their lives will be better than their parents’ lives. The equivalent result was reported as 63% in 2025. A movement that large in one year deserves scrutiny. One of those figures may be wrong, or the two results may not be directly comparable.
Eddie Barnes described the belief that the next generation will do better than previous ones as a “founding belief for decades” and said the poll shows many young people no longer believe it to be true. That is a serious warning. My caution is about the size of the one-year shift, not the importance of the concern.
Young people are looking at housing, work, technology, politics, and the cost of living and asking whether the old promise still holds: study hard, work hard, contribute, and build a better life. Some are not convinced. That should not surprise us. It should call us to better leadership.
The kids may well be OK, and they will be better still if we help turn their optimism into opportunity, confidence and action.
That is the real task.
One civic education finding should make every educator, parent, employer and democratic leader pause. Only 16% of respondents said school had prepared them very well for making political decisions as adults. For 16 and 17-year-olds, the figure falls to just 6%.
Too many young people have not been given, through their teachers, schools and the curriculum, the civic confidence, knowledge and tools to participate well.
That matters because young people are not short of concern or interest. If young people believe their vote matters, want to understand the system, and want to build good lives, then leaders should meet them with seriousness, respect and practical pathways. Civic education is not an optional extra. It is one way we help young people turn personal optimism into democratic confidence.
There is a similar message in the AI findings. Young people are anxious about job loss, and they also see AI’s value in learning. They are not simply rejecting technology. They are asking whether technology will expand their capability or remove opportunity. That is a very adult question. It deserves a very adult answer.
The report found that 26% ranked job loss as the number one AI threat, while AI’s potential to support learning was identified as the biggest benefit.
This is why I keep returning to one question: what makes you optimistic?
It is not a soft question. It is a leadership question. It helps us find where energy, agency and hope remain alive. It opens the door to action.
The UK Youth Poll reminds us that young people are thoughtful, pressured, alert, ambitious, worried, active and hopeful.
That sounds like life.
For leaders, the challenge is clear. Listen to young people. Take their personal optimism seriously. Strengthen their civic education. Build fairer pathways into work, housing, skills and democratic life. Shape AI so it expands human possibility. Give young people more chances to be heard, to contribute, and to lead.
The answer is not to worry endlessly about “the next generation”.
The better answer is to ask better questions, build better pathways, and help young people turn the optimism they already carry into opportunity, confidence and action.
So let me ask you:
What makes you optimistic about young people?
And what can you do this week to help turn a young person’s optimism into opportunity?
.png)
.png)
.png)
Keep up to date with the latest from Centre for Optimism
We appreciate any contribution you can make to help us spread optimism with the world
.svg)
.svg)
