More British young adults face living in homes hit by poverty: report

A quarter of young people in Britain aged 16 to 24 are now living in households at risk of poverty, a report by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed Thursday.

The proportion has increased from 19 percent in 2008, ONS added.

In its report, ONS paints a picture of how young people aged 16 to 24 in Britain are faring in a range of areas that matter to their quality of life. The measures used are designed to shed light both on young people's current wellbeing and on their future prospects.

"The overall picture is one of stability or improvement, but with some notable exceptions, including the growing proportion of young people in households at risk of poverty," said the report.

The study also shows the proportion of young people reporting symptoms of anxiety or depression has increased to 21 percent, compared to 18 percent in 2009 to 2010.

Young women are more likely than young men to report symptoms of anxiety or depression, it says.

On social connections, the report finds that the proportion of young people who said they had someone to rely a lot on, decreased from 80 percent in the period 2010 to 2011 to 76 percent in 2013 to 2014. But the proportion of young people who agreed they belong to their neighborhood, increased from 50 percent in 2009 to 2010 to 57 percent in 2014 to 2015.

The ONS report also finds that teens were more likely to say their life satisfaction level was very high, a rate of 36.4 percent for 16 to 19-year-olds, compared to 26.8 percent for 20 to 24-year-olds. Endit