Managing relationships, finances, time and healthy choices can be distressing for students.Credit: Getty
A mental-health emergency is brewing at universities across the world. Anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation and self-harm have all increased among undergraduates in the past decade, straining university resources (see ‘Mental illness on the rise’).
Almost two-thirds of students in a global survey1 of 72,288 first-year undergraduates said that they had experienced symptoms at some point in their lives consistent with at least one mental illness. These include mood disorders, anxiety, post-traumatic stress and substance use. More than half had reported symptoms in the past year.
The future of universities
Our research in Brazil, Canada and the United Kingdom aligns with these trends2–4. Our experiences as academics, clinicians and advocates have shown us how untreated mental disorders can derail a person’s psychosocial and academic development. Much too often, this ends in tragedy.
Yet globally, only 28% of students who have a mental-health problem and who would benefit from support actually access it5 — with inequities for disadvantaged and at-risk groups. The proportion of students receiving help falls to just 14% in low- and middle-income countries, for example5. One study in the United States found that although the proportion of students with symptoms who sought help rose from 40.7% in 2013 to 50.2% in the 2020–21 academic year, the only statistically significant increase was in students of white ethnic background. Rates of seeking help among people of other ethnic groups remain mostly unchanged, despite increases in common mental-health conditions6.
Universities, together with governments, academics and health-care providers, must do more to develop coordinated, sustainable and effective mental-health support for the students in their care.
Source: The Healthy Minds Network
Reasons for the rise
University students are particularly prone to mental-health challenges. According to a 2025 report7 from the World Health Organization, mental disorders are rising fastest among those aged 20–29 years — the most-represented age group among undergraduates. Many factors play into this increase.
The transition to university is a pivotal time in a young person’s psychosocial and biological development. Undergraduates often experience distress managing peer and family relationships, finances, time and healthy lifestyle choices. These challenges are all associated with symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression8. University is more academically demanding than is secondary school, and learning remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with delayed learning and challenges in adapting to university, especially among students who, from what research describes, have low socio-economic backgrounds9.
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Young people today are also deeply engaged with and constantly connected to unfolding news. Social media exposes them to a flood of crises — from geopolitical conflicts to climate-related threats — that can heighten their angst about the world and their futures.
In our view, universities often fail to support academic success in students from historically disadvantaged backgrounds, despite working hard to facilitate their enrolment. The interaction between ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status, sexual orientation and politico-cultural views contributes to student mental-health risk.
For example, students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds and with parents who did not attend university can find themselves facing unfamiliar academic norms and juggling studies with responsibilities at home. Students from minoritized groups are more likely to face harassment, prejudice and exclusion on campus than are others10. They are more likely to have been exposed to childhood adversity and to face financial strain and limited social support11.
Among students, low-income women of colour who are transgender and not heterosexual are 6.2 times more likely to experience severe anxiety and 8.6 times more likely to have severe depression than are high-income, cisgender, heterosexual white men, according to a study in Brazil12. But stigma and cultural barriers can make it hard for people from minoritized groups to navigate institutional systems and seek help6,11. Many universities still lack accessible, evidence-based and culturally competent services to support these learning and mental-health needs8.
A perfect storm
Tackling this rise in mental disorders requires funding for psychological support and research — but this is chronically underfunded globally. The median government expenditure on mental health is only US$2.7 per person, accounting for just 2% of total health spending across the world (see go.nature.com/4pzafad).
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University well-being and mental-health services are often understaffed13 and in need of more mental-health professionals8. Despite being situated in higher-education institutions, such student services have not typically embraced a culture of learning — collecting data to use and learn from, and embedding research into practice. Such a shift can ensure efficiency and care that is proactive (rather than reactive). For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, health systems collected data to quickly develop prediction dashboards and telehealth-supported monitoring models that helped to manage surges in demand14.
