Different Voices, Shared Message: An International Youth Day reflection on why young people’s voices must be heard.

This year's International Youth Day theme is ‘Different Contexts, Common Aspirations.' For young people in London, this can be applied to understanding the different experiences and challenges they come across. London is a bustling and incredibly diverse city, and with that comes a plethora of contexts that young people are growing up in. It is a city where a young person's entire friendship circle can consist of different cultures, values, traditions and experiences. But what brings them together is their shared connection and shared London life.

International Youth Day was established by the United Nations to encourage global focus on the socioeconomic, cultural and legal issues affecting young people across the world. This year's theme sheds light on how many young people's aspirations and goals are becoming more and more similar… but what is it that is being celebrated exactly?

A generation under pressure

Unfortunately, young people's issues are progressing, and navigating life is becoming increasingly challenging 

Work: UK youth unemployment has been climbing steadily. In the third quarter of 2025, the youth unemployment rate (15.3%) overtook the EU average for the first time since comparable records began in 2005; by the final quarter of the year it had risen further, to 16.1%. It's not that Britain has "the worst rate in Europe." Several countries, including Spain, Italy and France, still rank higher,  but the direction of travel is unmistakable, and for a country that has historically outperformed the EU on youth employment, the reversal is alarming.

Education: GCSE pass rates have fallen for a second consecutive year, with the overall grade 4/C-and-above pass rate dropping to 67.4% in 2025, down from 67.6% the year before. The picture is starker in the core subjects: the English language pass rate fell from 61.6% to 59.7%, and maths from 59.6% to 58.2%, driven largely by a record number of students being forced to resit exams they didn't pass the first time.

Loneliness and mental health: People would tend to assume that the elderly are the loneliest age group in the country, when in fact young people are. ONS data from April 2025 found that 31% of 16–29 year olds reported feeling lonely always, often or some of the time, compared with just 16% of those aged 70 and over. The same survey found 26% of 16–29 year olds experiencing moderate to severe depressive symptoms, over three times the rate among the oldest age group (8%). Separately, the proportion of 17–19 year olds with a probable mental disorder rose from 10.1% in 2017 to 17.4% in 2021.

Climate anxiety: A global study of 10,000 young people aged 16–25 across ten countries, including the UK, found that three-quarters felt frightened about the future because of climate change, and nearly half said their worry actively disrupted their daily functioning. Yet a 2023 YouGov poll found that only 9% of 16–24 year olds felt young people have real influence over decisions on climate change. It is evident that there is a recurring gap between concern and agency that runs through almost every issue on this list.

Online dangers: A 2025 survey of over 2,000 16–21 year olds across the UK found that 68% had encountered online content they found harmful or disturbing, most commonly bullying, racism, and content promoting self-harm or eating disorders.

It is clear that a young person's journey to a successful and enriching life involves trudging through countless challenges and hardships that society is throwing at them, and this isn't happening in a vacuum. It's compounded by over a decade of austerity to the very services meant to support them.

Austerity has hollowed out youth spaces

New analysis from YMCA England & Wales, published in February 2026, found that council spending on youth services fell by 10% in a single year, the sharpest annual drop in almost a decade.  YMCA also notes that  local authority funding for youth services in England has fallen greatly, “representing a loss of £1.3 billion since 2010-11”. 

London faces a fresh threat on top of this. As the government's Fair Funding Review reshapes how council budgets are calculated from 2026-27, London Councils estimates the capital's boroughs stand to lose around £700 million under the proposed formula changes, with children's services among the hardest hit. This sits on top of a decade of cuts already tracked by the London Assembly: between 2011 and 2021, council youth service funding in London fell by 44%, more than £240 million was withdrawn from young Londoners, over 600 full-time youth worker jobs were cut, and more than 130 youth centres closed.

It seems some change may be on the way. The government's Youth Matters national strategy, published in December 2025, promises hundreds of millions in new investment, including a £350 million expansion of youth spaces and a £60 million fund for underserved communities. But as of early 2026, detailed funding allocations and delivery timelines still hadn't been confirmed, and youth organisations have been clear that fifteen years of cuts won't be undone by a single announcement.

Ultimately, this is the backdrop against which young people are being asked to have ‘common aspirations.’ The spaces where those aspirations could once be nurtured, questioned and supported by a trusted adult have been steadily dismantled. We hope that the rebuilding, if and when it comes, puts young people back at the centre of it. 

Why youth voice matters more than ever

Youth participation and civic life is another core purpose of International Youth Day. It's essential that young people can take part in civic action, contribute to community growth, shape policy, and have their voices heard.

At the Anti-Tribalism Movement, we feel incredibly strongly about young people shaping the work that we do. Youth projects are youth-led, programmes are tailored to individual, unique experiences, and there is an interconnected network of young people who support each other because they recognise their shared plights.

Every year our young people dedicate their time to designing innovative and creative social action campaigns that speak on  global majority youth issues. From poverty, discrimination and hate crimes to unemployment, isolation and mental health,  they are unabashedly taking up space in discussions and policies that could make a real difference in this city. Just recently, our young leaders of 2024 delivered a research report titled Navigating London, calling for free travel for young people aged 21 and under. It was presented to Transport for London while they were developing their Equity in Motion inclusive travel strategy. Another group designed a stand-up comedy show, The Sun Never Sets, to tackle loneliness and isolation, featuring a lineup of talented comedians. 

Another group of young leaders, Unlocked Futures, brought in professionals from a range of industries and gathered poetry submissions from young people, together shining a light on the daunting realities of career planning. These young people are actively working to close the growing gap between their right to success and justice, and their access to it.

International Youth Day reflects on the intersectional differences and difficulties young people face globally while showing that these difficulties persist in tandem with their voices being ignored. The statistics above tell us what's happening to young people. They don't tell us what young people themselves think should happen next. We need to close that gap and create more chances for young people to guide us.