Gallup: 44% of Adults 18 to 29 Say They're Thriving, Down From 64% in 2010; 27% Report Depression Treatment

Fewer than half of young American adults now say they are thriving, and more than one in four report being treated for depression.

That is the finding of Gallup's Life Evaluation Index, which tracks how adults aged 18 to 29 rate their own lives. Gallup found 44% of that age group describe themselves as thriving. In 2010, the figure for the same age group was 64%.

The numbers

The share reporting treatment for depression hit 27%. That is up 11 points since 2019.

The slide in the thriving number was gradual at first. It fell from 64% to 57% across the 2010s, reaching 57% in 2019. Then 2020 hit: 39%.

A partial recovery followed, to just over half (51%) by 2023. After that it fell again, to today's 44%.

Gallup's other measures of young adult well-being are down from 2019 as well:

• Relationships: 47% say their relationship with a spouse, partner or closest friend is stronger than ever. In 2019 it was 65%.
• Joy: 64% said they experienced joy the previous day, a drop of 17 points.
• Energy: 28% said they felt active and productive every day in the past week, down 16 points.
• Role models: One in three say they have a leader in their life who makes them enthusiastic about the future. In 2019, 47% did.
• Living standard: 41% are satisfied with their standard of living compared with the people around them, down 14 points.
• Goals: 31% say they reached most of their goals in the past 12 months, down from 44%.

Every one of those measures moved the wrong way.

What a psychiatrist says is behind it

Dr. Katrina Furey, a Connecticut-based psychiatrist and founder of Repro Psych Academy, offered her read on the data. She said this generation has had constant access to smartphones and social media, lived through a global pandemic, and faced financial pressures such as housing that no other generation has had.

Furey said COVID-19 isolation during formative developmental years "for sure has left a lasting impact." She said depression and loneliness tie closely to social connection.

She also said she hears "a lot of distress from that generation about their future."

On social media, Furey said research has shown higher rates of eating disorders and depression linked to it. "I can't imagine that's not part of it for Gen Z," she said. She described them as the first generation to grow up online.

That is one clinician's assessment. It is not a finding of the Gallup poll.

What the poll does and doesn't show

Gallup's index records how young adults describe their lives. It does not test why those descriptions changed.

The timeline is revealing. The sharpest drop came in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. That fits the pandemic explanation Furey gives.

But the thriving number partly recovered by 2023. Then it fell again. Furey's other explanations, social media and housing costs, are not tied to any single year in the poll.

The relationship and role-model numbers are the ones that stand out for anyone who cares about family, community and personal connection. Young adults reporting weaker bonds with a partner or close friend, and fewer people to look up to, points to something beyond a bad economy. The poll does not say which mattered most.

The treatment figure also needs care. A rise in people being treated for depression can reflect more people feeling worse, more people seeking help, or both. Gallup's figure counts those who report treatment, not a clinical measure of how many have the condition.

Young adults are not alone in the slide. Millennials showed a similar decline, with just 45% of those aged 30 to 44 thriving.

What's unresolved

The open question is the post-2023 fall. The thriving rate climbed from its 2020 low of 39% to 51% by 2023, then dropped again to 44%. Gallup's figures show that it happened. They do not say what drove it, and Furey's list of phones, isolation and housing covers factors that were all in play across the period.

Whether the 44% reading is a new floor or a waypoint will only show up in Gallup's next round of the index.