Sapien Labs has discovered that the catastrophic fall in mental wellness caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has persisted.

“The expectation may have been that once the lockdowns lifted and the threat of COVID-19 subsided our collective mental health would begin a recovery towards its pre-pandemic levels,” the conclusion of the research states.

“The data across 64 countries argues otherwise – that the effects of diminished global mental wellbeing have become a new normal.”

None of this should be too surprising. The researchers said that this raised important questions about the lasting impact of the pandemic, and how shifts in the way we live and work and the amplification of existing habits (e.g. remote working, online communication, consumption of ultra-processed food, use of single-use plastics) cumulatively pushed us into a space of poorer mental wellbeing.

There have been numerous recent reports on the UK’s youth mental health crisis, with recent NHS data revealing that there were more than 3,500 urgent referrals of under-18s in May 2023, three times as many as there were in May 2019.

In addition, a recent report from think tank the Resolution Foundation has found that 34% of young people aged 18-24 in the UK have symptoms of a common mental disorder.

According to Sapiens Labs, several Latin American and African countries rank highly in terms of mental health, but most Anglosphere countries rank poorly, with a link between higher GDP and worse mental well-being ratings.

“Greater wealth and economic development do not necessarily lead to greater mental wellbeing,” the study found.

In addition, they discovered a link between younger age of first smartphone ownership, greater consumption of ultra-processed foods, and worse mental health – and people in affluent nations are more likely to possess cellphones at a young age and consume ultra-processed foods.