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1. Main trends in the health conditions of young people

2. Main concepts

Main trends in the health conditions of young people

For more than twenty years, the aim of the French "Baromètre" surveys of Santé Publique France has been to monitor the main behaviours, attitudes and perceptions associated with risk-taking and the health of the French population: smoking, alcoholism, illegal drug use, nutrition, quality of life, etc. A specific version of this extensive scientific survey, conducted through interviews, has been produced on the subject of young people's health.

Last findings from the Health Barometer conducted by Santé publique France in 2023 indicate several trends regarding health conditions of young people (see details below).

Santé publique France is launching the 16th edition of the Barometer on 16 March 2026, surveying a sample of 80,000 people aged between 18 and 79 living in mainland France, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique and Réunion. The initial results of this survey will be published in late 2027.

Dietary habits

According to data from INJEP, in 2019 (latest available data), around 26% of 18–29-year-olds are overweight or obese. Obesity is a major risk factor for the most common pathologies (cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, etc.) and has psychological and social consequences, such as depression.

However, this apparent stability masks a more concerning long-term trend: according to National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM), obesity among 18–24-year-olds has more than quadrupled since 1997, highlighting a structural deterioration in young people’s health.

In addition, overweight and obesity are strongly shaped by social inequalities. Data from French National Health Authority (Haute Autorité de Santé) show that obesity is nearly four times more frequent among disadvantaged populations, a gap that emerges early in life and continues into young adulthood.

Sources : Haute Autorité de la Santé (2024). Overweight and obesity in children and adults: what is the care pathway?. INJEP (2025) Chiffres clés de la jeunesse. INSERM (2023) Obesity and Overweight: Almost One in Two French People Affected. Current Situation, Prevention and Therapeutic Solutions.

Mental health

Mental health has become a major public health concern among young people in France in recent years. According to data from DREES, suicide remains the second leading cause of death among young people under 25, despite relatively low overall mortality rates in this age group.

Recent findings from the Health Barometer conducted by Santé publique France highlight a marked deterioration in mental health among young adults. Among 18–24-year-olds, 20.8% experienced a depressive episode in 2021, compared with 11.7% in 2017, illustrating a sharp increase in a few years.

More recent data confirm this trend: around 40% of 18–24-year-olds report symptoms of anxiety or depression, a substantial rise compared to previous years.

Suicidal behaviours are also particularly prevalent among young adults. According to Santé publique France, 18–29-year-olds are the most affected age group, with 8.6% reporting suicidal thoughts, 6.7% a suicide attempt during their lifetime, and 1.0% within the past year.

Finally, these difficulties are especially pronounced among students. While earlier data from the Observatoire de la vie étudiante highlighted that around one third of students experienced psychological distress, more recent evidence suggests that these vulnerabilities persist and are socially differentiated, particularly affecting women, precarious students and those experiencing financial difficulties.

Sources : DREES (2025). Suicide: Rising Mental Health Issues Among Young Women and End-of-Life Care – Examining Suicidal Behaviour Through the Lenses of Age and Gender – 6th Report / February 2025. French National Assembly (2025). Rise in psychological distress among young people. French National Observatory on Student Life (2023). Repères 2023. Santé Publique France (2023). Young people’s mental health: tips for looking after your mental health. Santé Publique France (2026). Suicides and attempted suicides.

Covid-19 and mental health

• According to the INJEP 2021 barometer, in 2021, 60% of young people aged 18 to 30 are confident about the future, 7 points less than in 2020. According to a study by Epi-Phare in 2021, between the beginning of 2020 and the end of 2021, 0-19 year olds increased their use of antidepressants by 13%. This phenomenon is marked, in particular, by the start of treatment during this period. The 20-39 age group saw an increase of 5.9% in the use of antidepressants.

• According to a Santé Publique France study of 2021 "Mental health and Covid-19 – suicidal behaviours", 11-24 year olds are experiencing an increasing trend in emergency room visits for suicidal acts or mood disorders.

• According to this study, the Agence Santé Publique France, the "health crisis has acted as a catalyst for mental health problems in France [...] the spread of the virus has been accompanied by a rise in anxiety about the infection and the implementation of restrictive measures on the social level, an essential dimension of well-being.  Indeed, isolation, reduced physical activity, increased stress and boredom have all been factors that can have an impact on mental health, especially among young people, where increased anxiety has been particularly observed.

Various scientific studies have been carried out on the impact of the pandemic on young people, in particular with a view to assessing "the emotional state and psychological distress of children and young people during confinement as a function of their environment and their living and housing conditions". For example, the study during the first Covid-19 containment showed that:

• Adolescents appeared to have a greater impact on mental health than younger people and girls appeared to have a greater impact on mental health than boys during and after the lockdown.

• Factors associated with psychological distress were housing conditions (being confined in an urban area, in a flat or house without a garden, not having access to an outside area in the dwelling, occupying an over-occupied dwelling and not being able to isolate oneself), economic conditions (financial and food difficulties, economic conditions (financial and food difficulties, decrease in income due to the epidemic or confinement, period of unemployment of parents, lack of Internet connection), parents' characteristics (single-parent family, level of education lower than or equal to the baccalaureate, working-class or employed parents, born abroad, lack of social support).

• Lack of activity, increased time spent on social networks and screens, feeling overwhelmed with school work, Covid-19 infection of a relative and hospitalisation following Covid-19 were also linked to distress in France.

Furthermore, according to an article by the INJEP on the consequences of the health crisis (Covid-19) on rural adolescents (Expériences des confinements par les adolescents ruraux. Des conséquences inégales sur les sociabilités, scolarités et aspiration), published in April 2021, shows "how much the health crisis has reinforced the pre-existing inequalities between [rural] young people living in the same territory, who are still too often perceived as a homogeneous youth.

Addiction behaviours

Alcohol consumption

Alcohol consumption among young people in France reflects a shift in patterns, combining a decline in regular use with the persistence of high-risk behaviours. According to the Health Barometer conducted by Santé publique France, daily alcohol consumption remains relatively low among young adults compared to older age groups, confirming that regular drinking is less common in this population.

However, episodic heavy drinking remains widespread. Data from the ESCAPAD 2022 survey conducted by French Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT) show that 36.6% of 17-year-olds reported at least one episode of excessive drinking in the past month, although this represents a decrease compared to previous years.

Among young adults, this phenomenon is even more pronounced: around 47% of 18–25-year-olds report at least one episode of binge drinking in the past month, and 22% report repeated episodes (three or more in the month), according to combined estimates from ESCAPAD 2022 and Santé publique France.

More broadly, alcohol consumption tends to increase with age, becoming more regular over time, while younger populations are characterised by less frequent but more intensive consumption patterns. In addition, gender differences are narrowing: although men remain more likely to engage in heavy drinking (around 53% of young men vs 40% of young women reporting binge drinking), the gap has significantly reduced in recent years.

Smoking

Tobacco use among young people in France has declined markedly in recent years. According to Santé publique France, daily smoking among 18–29-year-olds fell to 18.4% in 2024, down from 29.3% in 2021. Among 17-year-olds, OFDT’s ESCAPAD 2022 survey shows that 15.6% smoke daily, while 25.1% report smoking in the previous 30 days, the lowest level recorded in two decades. The average age of first experimentation is 14.5 years, and the transition to daily smoking occurs around 15.3 years (ESCAPAD). Given that cerebral maturation continues until about age 25, as noted by Inserm, early prevention remains especially important.

Drugs consumption

Recent data from OFDT’s EnCLASS 2024 survey, published in February 2026, confirm a continued decline in most psychoactive substance use among secondary-school pupils in France. Daily smoking is now limited to 0.9% of middle-school pupils and 5.6% of high-school students. Alcohol experimentation remains widespread, rising from 8.5% in 6th grade to 73.3% in final year, while cannabis experimentation increases from 7.4% in 3rd grade to 21% in final year; annual cannabis use also rises sharply with age, from 4.6% to 14.5%. Boys remain more likely than girls to use cannabis.

Among young adults, the latest national population data available in 2026 show that cannabis remains the most widely used illicit drug: in 2023 (OFDT), 22.9% of 18–24-year-olds reported use in the previous 12 months, 6.6% reported regular use, and 3.5% daily use. Men are still more likely than women to use cannabis, although gender gaps are narrower than in older generations.

Behaviours regarding the use of screens and electronics

Recent French data show that screen exposure is widespread from early childhood and becomes increasingly intensive with age. According to Santé publique France’s Enabee study, the average daily screen time in 2022 was 1 hour 22 minutes for 3–5-year-olds, 1 hour 53 minutes for 6–8-year-olds and 2 hours 33 minutes for 9–11-year-olds; 35% of 6–8-year-olds and 55% of 9–11-year-olds exceeded 2 hours of screen time per day, and screen exposure was higher among children from less advantaged families.

Among 18–24-year-olds, INSEE’s EpiCov-based analysis shows that more than half are exposed to screens for at least 4 hours per day outside work or study, and 30.4% report 6 hours or more. The same study also finds very intensive social-media use in this age group: 29.6% of 18–24-year-olds connect several times per hour. Frequent social-media use is also associated with higher levels of depressive syndromes, especially among young women.

Overall, the most recent official French sources (Santé Publique France ; INSEE ; French Ministry in charge of Health) suggest that screen use among young people should be read less as a simple question of “time spent” than as a multidimensional public health issue involving age, social inequalities, parental supervision and mental health.

Physical exercise

Physical activity remains high among young people in France, but recent official data show a clear shift from childhood into adolescence. According to the INJEP National Barometer on sports practices 2025, 84% of 15–29-year-olds practiced sport regularly, compared with 63% of 30–59-year-olds and 61% of those aged 60 and over. However, club-based sport has become less dominant, falling to 20% of practitioners in 2025. INJEP’s youth indicators also show that 15–29-year-olds accounted for 27.8 annual licences per 100 young people in 2024, while under-15s still represented 45% of all licences in 2023, confirming the strong concentration of organised sport in childhood and early adolescence. The Ministry of Education further notes that the 11–14 age group is a key drop-off point, with only one third of boys and one quarter of girls reaching the recommended hour of daily physical activity.

Sources : INJEP (2023, 2024). Les Chiffres clés du Sport. French Ministry of Sports (2026). Sport in France: steady growth since 2018, boosted by the Paris 2024 Games. French Ministry of National Education (2024). Implementation of the scheme: Two extra hours of physical and sporting activity per week in secondary schools – Start of the 2024 school year.

Reproductive and sexual health

Reproductive and sexual health among young people remains a major public health issue in France. According to Santé publique France, the median age at first sexual intercourse has remained stable at 17.6 years for girls and 17.0 years for boys. Recent sexuality-education resources published by the agency emphasize that school-based sex education does not increase sexual activity or risky behaviour and is most effective when it is age-appropriate and combined with support from parents, teachers and youth services.

STIs are rising among young people. Santé publique France’s 2025 analysis of 2014–2023 data shows that testing rates for HIV and three bacterial STIs increased by 44% to 593% among young people, while the number of new HIV diagnoses among young people rose by 41%. The agency also reports that among 15–25-year-olds, gonococcal infections recorded the sharpest increase between 2022 and 2024, at +38%. Since September 2024, the “Mon-test-IST” program has expanded access to testing for HIV, chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis and hepatitis B; in its first four months, 18–25-year-olds accounted for 44% to 50% of testers, and the monthly number of HIV tests among under-25s doubled.

Contraception remains widely used, but prevention gaps persist. Santé publique France notes that one-third of pregnancies remain unplanned and that emergency contraception remains underused. The latest official national figure I found for emergency-contraception use is still 6.2% among women aged 15–49 at risk of unintended pregnancy, based on the 2016 barometer. For abortion, DREES reports a rate of 28.2 per 1,000 among women aged 20–24 in 2023. The latest official age-specific contraceptive-method table available on Santé publique France’s data page still dates from 2016; among women aged 20–24, the main methods remain the pill, condoms and the implant.

Main concepts

Several concepts and notions help to gain a clear idea of public health policies, particularly those focusing on young people. The notions of "Public Health", "general law" and "access to healthcare" define and characterise the French public health system.

Public Health

Youth health policies normally fall within the Public Health sphere – which goes beyond the scope of curative medicine and encompasses all the factors which contribute to the development and determination of individuals' health: including the social environment and living conditions (housing, employment, recreation, etc.). Part of the objectives of Public Health is to limit health risks, guarantee the very best quality of care and ensure the greatest possible equality among the population in terms of health. Public Health forms part of a general law health service.

General law health service

The French health service is governed by general law, which designates all of the health service to which any resident must have access, pursuant to the "right to health protection" as recognised by the Preamble of the 1946 French Constitution. Since health comes under the general law system, it is therefore accessible to all; but the population is first required to become a member of a Compulsory Health Insurance Scheme: in this way they benefit from basic social cover. The range of available general law medical care is provided by both public facilities (hospitals, health centres, mother and child protection centres, etc.) and liberal medical practice (private clinics, physicians, etc.). In the general law health service, everyone is free to choose where they want to be treated.

"Access to health care"

Although health education and prevention do feature in the policies that the public authorities put into practice, the French health service is primarily based on a curative approach and access to health care. Access to health care means an individual's ability to access health resources and services.

It is influenced by social, economic (level of education, etc.), geographic, environmental, cultural and organisational factors which can either help or hinder a person in accessing such services. It is closely tied in with the notion of accessibility, which refers more to the reimbursement of services, but also the proximity or distance of healthcare services (medical cover, insurance, doctor's surgery, health centre, etc.). Unequal access and accessibility in terms of health care are issues that the public authorities need to address.