The Arab Youth Centre study titled “Mental Health Among Arab Youth: A Development Framework for Readiness and Well-Being 2026” combined a survey of 100 young men and women from across Arab countries with 11 discussion sessions involving approximately 107 participants. It further incorporated six in-depth interviews with Arab experts in mental health, public health, youth development, family affairs, education and life skills, along with a review of relevant reports, policies and practices, the Emirates News Agency reported. The research examined how mental health intersects with young people’s capacity to learn, work, form relationships and contribute to their communities while identifying career uncertainty, family expectations and digital pressures as key influencing factors.
A psychological and social well-being index among those surveyed reached 86.4, the Arab Youth Centre reported. In addition, 97.4 percent of participants linked a sense of safety and psychological stability to increased readiness to innovate, take initiative and explore new ideas. Another 95.7 percent associated good mental health with enhanced achievement, decision-making and the ability to manage academic and workplace pressures.
Eng. Fatima Al Hallami, executive director of the Arab Youth Centre, said preparing young people for the future requires understanding the conditions that allow them to advance with confidence. She noted that education and employment opportunities, clear career pathways and supportive relationships all influence their mental health and capacity to achieve ambitions. Al Hallami added that there is a responsibility to help young people manage pressure, address underlying factors and involve them directly in designing relevant programmes.
UNICEF data places the number of young people aged 10 to 24 in the Middle East and North Africa at nearly 140 million, roughly one quarter of the region’s population. A UNICEF assessment found that one in six adolescents aged 10 to 19 in the MENA region, or about 22.5 million, live with a mental disorder, with anxiety and depression among the most common conditions. The same UNICEF report estimated that mental disorders and intentional self-harm account for nearly one quarter of the total disease burden among young people in the region, resulting in more than 4,000 suicide deaths in 2019.
Separate findings from the 2023 Arab Youth Survey indicated that 74 percent of young Arabs struggle to disconnect from social media while 61 percent agree that social media addiction negatively affects mental health, ASDA’A BCW reported. That survey, released on World Mental Health Day in 2023, also showed that 92 percent of respondents believe big technology companies hold excessive power and fail to adequately address fake news. Such digital pressures align with factors highlighted in the new Arab Youth Centre research as shaping youth well-being.
The Arab Youth Centre study proposes five priorities for institutional action, the Sharjah24 news site reported. These include recognising mental health as a foundation for development, creating a more integrated support system, strengthening prevention and life skills, improving tools to measure and monitor well-being, and clarifying institutional responsibilities and coordination. The study calls for psychological and social well-being to be incorporated more fully into policies and programmes covering youth, education, employment, families and quality of life.
