Governments must pour more money and resources into preserving the mental well-being of children and adolescents, the UN’s child protection agency urged in a report released late on Tuesday.
It said that one in seven of the world’s young people was now living with some sort of mental disorder.
The study, titled The State of the World’s Children, warned that concerns about juvenile mental health following the pandemic could be the ‘tip of the iceberg’ and urged authorities to do more to tackle the escalating issue.
The researchers estimate that 13 per cent of the world’s adolescents aged 10 to 19 – 89 million boys and 77m girls – have sought help for a mental disorder, with prevalence being greatest in the Middle East, north Africa, North America and western Europe.
The Unicef said that the pandemic had clouded children’s long-term future and upended their lives, and created real concern for their mental health and well-being.
“It will hang over the aspirations and lifetime earnings of a generation whose education has been disrupted,” it said. “The risk is that the aftershocks of this pandemic will chip away at the happiness and well-being of children, adolescents and caregivers for years to come.”
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