Mental and social health pose major challenges for young people worldwide, particularly for young people with special needs: 

• 70% of people with disabilities experience social isolation.  
• Young people with disabilities are three times more likely to have mental health issues than their peers without disabilities.  
• 33% of Dutch young people regularly to often experience pressure to meet expectations.  
• This is also a problem worldwide: a quarter of young people in the United States struggle with mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression. 

Mental health is an increasingly significant challenge for young people worldwide, particularly for young people with a disability.

The facts show how significant the pressure is:

• 30% of Dutch secondary school pupils (aged 12–16) experience mental health problems, with girls slightly more affected than boys. Attention problems are the most common (37%).
• One in three experiences mental health issues; one in seven suffers from depressive symptoms. Globally, one in seven young people (aged 10–19) has a mental health condition.
• 61% of young people regularly or frequently experience pressure to meet expectations.
• 13% of secondary school pupils are at risk of problematic social media use; 3% are at risk of problematic gaming.

For young people with a disability, the challenges are even greater:

• 20% often or always feel excluded.
• 14% have no friends at all, compared with 1% of young people without a disability.
• They are three times more likely to experience mental health problems than their peers without a disability.