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For , the end of active violence in their immediate surroundings rarely equals the end of fear, stress and grief.

The traces that conflict leaves on the mental well-being of global youth cut deep, often lingering for years after the guns go silent. Yet in global conversations about ceasefires, reconstruction and security, the topic of mental health often fails to make the agenda.

In its , the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) stresses that mental health can no longer be treated as a secondary concern in peacebuilding. It is foundational to recovery, resilience and sustainable peace.

The report presents a globally inclusive study that combines more than 2,500 survey responses from youth in nearly 140 countries, focus groups with 148 young people, and interviews with nine individuals from conflict and post-conflict settings. It emphasizes that social and economic instability can damage mental health in different ways, turning young lives upside down.

A generation under strain

Today, experiences a mental health condition. This shows that youth is more than a transitional phase. It is a critical period in which mental health trajectories are formed. Even more telling: 75 per cent of all mental health conditions experienced in adulthood begin before the age of 24.

The new study’s results confirm the dire state of mental well-being among global youth. Forty-three per cent of survey respondents rated their general mental health as ‘poor’ or ‘fair’, with only around 55 per cent rating it as at least ‘good’, showing that distress is widespread.

Although these general results are alarming already, zooming in on conflict areas reveals an even darker reality. In contexts where young people may face violence, displacement, family separation and chronic uncertainty, mental pressures multiply. The report underscores that social exclusion, trauma and inequality, all of which are prevalent in present or previous conflict zones, have significant potential to become incubators for mental health issues.

Despite being affected disproportionately, young people’s access to support for mental problems remains obstructed. A mere 40 per cent of respondents had ever found medical support for their emotional or mental health, while only 12 per cent had done so 11 or more times in the last year.

These figures expose a troubling gap between need and care globally. Here, too, the problems are prone to be exacerbated in fragile contexts, as healthcare facilities and workers .

Stigmatized and multi-layered

When and where services exist, many young people hesitate to seek help. The most common barriers cited in the research were lack of trust in others, fear of not being taken seriously and fear of being a burden.

In conflict and post-conflict environments, where institutions may be weakened and , these barriers can harden further. Silence takes over, acting as both a shield and prison for young people.

Disparities between groups show that vulnerability is multi-layered. Only 31 per cent of young people with disabilities rated their mental health as at least ‘good’, compared to the 55 per cent overall. Among LGBTQI+ respondents, just 40 per cent rated their mental health as at least ‘good’.

The report emphasizes that mental health cannot be separated from the broader conditions in which young people live. Education, employment, family dynamics, poverty, technology and societal attitudes all feed into mental well-being.

In conflict-affected areas, where schools may be destroyed, jobs scarce and families fragmented, the threats to young people’s mental health are plentiful.

Mental health for sustainable peace

Treatment of mental problems alone will not reduce the burden. that a country’s increased access to psychological and pharmacological interventions does not necessarily lead to a reduction in prevalence.

What is required instead are inclusive policies that address the social dangers to mental health. For youth in conflict settings, that means rebuilding safe schools, promoting work opportunities, strengthening social cohesion and reducing stigma.

Young people around the world are resilient. Still within their twenties, there is time . Conversely, ignoring mental health during peace negotiations and reconstruction may entrench trauma and shape societies for decades.

The message that the almost 3,000 young people send through the new UN DESA report is univocal: continuing to sideline youth mental health in peacebuilding discussions, is to overlook a major predictor of long-term social cohesion.