In general, young people in Sweden have good health, when measured by prevalence of diseases and hospital care or by public health surveys covering information on self-reported health. Mental health problems have though shown an increasing trend among young people in Sweden since mid-1980s. Therefore, the government has initiated a number of actions, in order to turn this negative trend. When it comes to healthy lifestyle, there is a trend of polarisation, where some are physically very active and have conscious eating habits, while others have sedentary lifestyle and suffer of overweight or obesity.

The Swedish government’s national public health policy has the following overarching objective: 

'To create social conditions to ensure good health, on equal terms, for the entire population'.

Policy regarding alcohol, narcotics, doping, tobacco and gambling (ANDTG) is one of the objective domains in the national public health policy. The government strategy for alcohol, narcotics, doping, tobacco and gambling (ANDTS) for the period 2022–2025 is to create conditions in society so that the entire population can enjoy good health on equal terms. The objective of alcohol, narcotics, doping and tobacco policies is a society free from narcotics and doping, with a reduction in medical harm caused by alcohol and a reduction in tobacco use. The goal of the latest addition to the policy, gambling, is that the negative consequences of gambling should be reduced and there should be a high level of safety in gambling.

One of the priorities in the Swedish youth policy according to the Government Communication in March 2021 is increasing young people's mental health. In the budget bill for 2025, the government emphasizes the importance of continued work with young people's mental health. Young people's mental health, including the prevention of loneliness, is stated to be a priority in the work for good living and upbringing conditions for all young people.