A major new supplement has presented a comprehensive economic and epidemiological case for scaling up investment in adolescent health and well-being globally.
The supplement, titled “New Perspectives on Advancing Adolescent Health and Well-being” was published in Health Policy and Planning (Oxford University Press/London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine on October 1, 2026.
It brings together six peer reviewed papers highlighting the needs of young people and arguing that the world is chronically under investing in the 1.3 billion adolescents who will shape its future.
According to the supplement, the current cohort of adolescents aged 10 to 19 is the largest the world has ever had, representing a vitally important potential global talent resource for the coming decades.
The researchers said that for this potential to be realised, today’s adolescents must enter adulthood healthy, well educated, with a strong feeling of belonging, and with the security and support they need to reach their full potential.
Research cited in the supplement suggests that investing in adolescent health and well-being is one of the most financially sound investments available, with returns of at least $10 for every dollar invested.
The supplement further noted that the cost of inaction is enormous, with a 2024 report estimating that between 2024 and 2050, the average cost of inaction would amount to $110 trillion, or $4.1 trillion a year.
Rajat Khosla, Executive Director of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH), said investing in adolescent health and well-being is no longer an option but a necessity.
“We cannot ignore this critical demographic and hope to progress nationally, regionally and globally. This supplement not only reiterates the need for investment but also how interventions across health, including mental health and education, yield massive returns,” Khosla said.
The supplement opens with findings from the “What Young People Want” survey, in which more than 1.5 million young people aged 10 to 24 from 89 countries completed the statement, “To improve my well-being, I want…”
Over 99 percent of respondents came from low and middle income countries, with the largest numbers coming from India at 28.5 percent, Egypt at 10.3 percent, and Nigeria at 9.3 percent.
Learning, competence and employability emerged as the dominant priority, cited by 36.4 percent of respondents, followed by safety and a supportive environment at 28.4 percent, health and nutrition at 20.9 percent, connectedness and positive values at 9.4 percent, and agency and resilience at 2.6 percent.
The survey found that gender diverse young people showed a markedly different pattern, with significantly higher emphasis on safety, connectedness and freedom from discrimination, a finding the authors said should shape how services are designed and targeted.
Gareth Jones, Board representative of the Adolescent and Youth Constituency, said young people are not waiting for the world to catch up.
“They have told us clearly what they need. The question now is whether governments and partners will listen and deliver,” Jones said.
Three of the six articles in the supplement examine the economics of investing in adolescent health and well-being, modelling benefit cost ratios against a backdrop of converging global crises including climate change, deteriorating adolescent mental health, broken educational systems, high youth unemployment and rapid technological change.
According to the economic models presented, integrated health and education interventions covering nutrition, mental health support, deworming, and water and sanitation programmes would generate at least $11 in returns for every dollar invested, and up to $25 trillion in total economic benefits across 75 countries by 2050.
The supplement also found that scaling up treatment for adolescent depression and anxiety in Colombia and South Africa would yield $15.3 and $10.5 for every dollar invested respectively.
Despite these returns, the researchers noted that adolescent mental health receives only 2 percent of domestic healthcare funding globally, leaving an annual funding gap of up to $350 billion.
The articles also stressed that investments must be equity focused, warning that in countries with deep inequality, untargeted investment to improve education quality risks widening rather than closing opportunity gaps.
The authors estimated that achieving adequate coverage across low and middle income countries would require an additional $222 billion per year, around 0.52 percent of global GDP, yet development assistance currently allocates just 2.4 percent of global health overseas development assistance to adolescents, a figure the authors described as deeply inadequate.
One of the articles presents World Health Organization and PMNCH guidance on how countries can monitor adolescent health and well-being holistically across five domains of the UN conceptual framework for adolescent well-being.
These domains are good health and optimum nutrition, connectedness, positive values and contribution to society, safety and a supportive environment, learning, competence, education, skills and employability, and agency and resilience.
The guidance is supported by an Excel based data tool designed to maximise the use of existing data, giving countries a practical means to assess performance across the full health and well-being spectrum.
The supplement closes with an examination of accountability, presenting an early assessment of commitments made by four countries at the 2023 Global Forum for Adolescents.
The assessment found that while progress has been made by all four countries, it has been hindered by fragmented systems, funding gaps, and insufficient disaggregated data, and made the case for stronger domestic accountability mechanisms alongside greater international coordination.
The supplement was guest edited by David A. Ross of Stellenbosch University, Anshu Mohan of the WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia, and Bhavya Nandini of PMNCH, with support from the Gates Foundation and Fondation Botnar.
PMNCH is the world’s largest alliance for the health of women, children and adolescents, hosted by the World Health Organization in Geneva, and brings together more than 1,000 organisations across 190 countries.
