Youth Despair and “Doom Spending”: Inside the Emotional Economy of 2026
⚡ Key Takeaways
- 27% of Americans admit to “doom spending” — impulse shopping to cope with stress — rising to 37% of Gen Z and 39% of millennials, according to Credit Karma’s benchmark survey [The Guardian].
- 28% of US adults aged 18–29 currently have or are being treated for depression in 2026 — more than double the rate for the same age group in 2017 [Gallup].
- In the UK, nearly 900,000 18–24-year-olds are NEET — not in employment, education or training — and the share citing work-limiting health problems has surged 70% in a decade [Resolution Foundation / Health Foundation].
- US teens show tentative improvement: 33.3% reported persistent sadness or hopelessness in 2025, down from 40% in 2023 — but still well above pre-pandemic levels [CDC].
- Experts call doom spending “rational despair”: when homes feel unaffordable, saving feels pointless — so the money goes on treats instead.
It started, as these things now do, with a word. “Doom spending” — the habit of shopping impulsively to numb anxiety about the economy and the state of the world — has moved from a TikTok hashtag to a genuine economic story. And the 2026 data behind it is sobering on both sides of the Atlantic: young Americans are the most depressed age group in the country, and nearly a million young Britons are neither earning nor learning [Source: Gallup](https://news.gallup.com/poll/708221/depression-rate-remains-elevated.aspx); [Source: Resolution Foundation](https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/lost-in-transition/).
This is not a morality tale about avocado toast or $28 lunches. It is about what happens when an entire generation concludes that the old life script — save, sacrifice, buy a home — no longer pays out. As trend forecaster Sean Monahan put it in The Guardian: “Among the wage-earners, there’s an increasing sense that while the money and economy are fake, the treats are real.”
What Exactly Is “Doom Spending”?
Doom spending is spending money impulsively to self-sooth feelings of stress, pessimism, or hopelessness — retail therapy driven not by desire but by dread. The term was popularized by a Credit Karma survey which found that 27% of Americans doom spend to deal with stress, and that the numbers rise to 37% of Gen Z and 39% of millennials — the highest rates of any generation [Source: The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/04/doomspending-economy-financial-crisis).
The classic doom-spend looks like this: a bad news cycle, a doomscrolling session, then a late-night checkout of things you don’t need — often financed with buy-now-pay-later services. It is the financial cousin of doomscrolling: compulsive, mood-driven, and briefly comforting.
The US Picture: A Generation Under the Weather
Young adult depression has more than doubled
Gallup’s National Health and Well-Being Index, using Q1 2026 survey data collected February 18–March 3, finds that 19.1% of all US adults currently have or are being treated for depression — projecting to an estimated 51 million Americans. For adults aged 18–29, the rate is 28.0%, more than double the 13.0% recorded for that age group in 2017 [Source: Gallup](https://news.gallup.com/poll/708221/depression-rate-remains-elevated.aspx).
Two forces compound the problem for the young: depression has surged most sharply among lower-income households (37.4% for those earning under $24,000, up 15 points since 2017), and roughly one in five Americans now reports significant daily loneliness — a level that has crept back up since the pandemic and tracks closely with depression. US men aged 15–34 are 67% more likely to feel significant loneliness on any given day than their peers across OECD nations [Source: Gallup](https://news.gallup.com/poll/708221/depression-rate-remains-elevated.aspx).
Teens: better news, with a catch
The CDC’s 2025 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, released September 21, 2026, offers tentative hope: 33.3% of US high school students reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in 2025, down from 40% in 2023 and the record 42% of 2021. Suicide risk indicators also improved — 14% seriously considered attempting suicide in 2025, down from 20% in 2023 [Source: Education Week](https://www.edweek.org/leadership/teen-mental-health-is-improving-cdc-finds-then-why-are-experts-still-concerned/2026/09); [Source: CDC MMWR](https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/75/su/su7501a4.htm).
But the gender gap remains stark — 43.4% of female students versus 23.9% of male students reported persistent sadness — and nearly 30% of affected students had an unmet need for counseling. Educators warn that 2025 federal cancellation of more than 200 school mental health grants could jeopardize the fragile progress [Source: CDC MMWR](https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/75/su/su7501a4.htm); [Source: Education Week](https://www.edweek.org/leadership/teen-mental-health-is-improving-cdc-finds-then-why-are-experts-still-concerned/2026/09).
The UK Picture: The NEET Epidemic
Across the Atlantic, the crisis shows up not just in mood data but in labor market data. The UK’s NEET rate — young people Not in Education, Employment or Training — fell steadily through the 2010s, then reversed: from 13% of 18–24-year-olds in 2019 to 15% in 2025, equivalent to almost 900,000 young people [Source: Resolution Foundation](https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/lost-in-transition/). Official ONS figures put the number of NEETs aged 16–24 at 957,000 [Source: The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/mar/15/sharp-rise-young-britons-ill-health-reason-jobless-study).
- π The share of NEETs reporting a work-limiting health condition has surged 70% in a decade — from 26% to 44% [Source: The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/mar/15/sharp-rise-young-britons-ill-health-reason-jobless-study).
- π§ More than two-thirds of those cite mental health problems and autism specifically.
- π₯ Inactivity due to disability or ill health among 18–24s jumped 52% since the pandemic (2.8% to 4.2%), and prescriptions for antidepressants and antipsychotics to this age group are rising [Source: Resolution Foundation](https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/lost-in-transition/).
- π UK 15–24-year-olds have the highest rates of anxiety and depressive disorders in the OECD — around double the non-UK OECD average [Source: Resolution Foundation](https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/lost-in-transition/).
- ⚖️ The share of all 16–24-year-olds citing ill health as a barrier to work rose 78% in ten years (9% to 16%) [Source: The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/mar/15/sharp-rise-young-britons-ill-health-reason-jobless-study).
Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden called the trend bluntly: “The human cost is a tragedy. The waste of potential appalling. And the financial cost enormous.” The proportion of NEETs who are sick or disabled has doubled in a decade and now stands at 46% of the total [Source: The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/mar/15/sharp-rise-young-britons-ill-health-reason-jobless-study).
Why Despair Turns Into Spending
Here is the uncomfortable economic logic. Doom spending is not irrationality — critics call it “rational despair.” When the big-ticket goals of the traditional life script are priced out of reach, saving for them feels mathematically pointless.
Housing, healthcare and education sit at all-time highs relative to wages, while everyday goods have gotten cheaper — a dynamic Monahan distills as: “Prada is cheap. Rent is expensive.” Add an AI-driven shake-up of white-collar employment and the sense that “redistribution cometh, one way or another,” and the calculus for many young people becomes: spend today, because tomorrow’s rewards look rigged [Source: The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/04/doomspending-economy-financial-crisis).
The Gallup data closes the loop: depression, loneliness, and the belief that “life has gotten worse” travel together — and each of those states is a documented trigger for emotional spending. One in five Americans feeling significant daily loneliness is not just a mental health statistic; it is a consumption pattern waiting to happen [Source: Gallup](https://news.gallup.com/poll/708221/depression-rate-remains-elevated.aspx).
Is it really “irrational”?
Older commentators castigate the $28 lunches; the doom-spenders reply that the dollar’s purchasing power and decades of relative wage stagnation make small luxuries the only achievable form of optimism. Both can be true — but the behavioral evidence is clear that hopelessness, not hedonism, is the driver. Treat the mood, and the spending often follows.
How to Break the Doom-Spend Cycle (What Actually Works)
- π° Budget the joy deliberately. Give yourself a guilt-free monthly “treats” allowance. Planned treats beat compulsive ones — the hit is the same, the debt is not.
- ⏸️ Install friction. Delete stored cards from shopping apps, unfollow haul influencers, and impose a 24-hour rule on non-essential purchases over a set amount.
- π§ Name the trigger. If the urge to spend follows a doomscrolling session, the problem is the scroll. Swap the checkout for a walk, a call, or a workout — mood repair without the invoice.
- π¦ Automate the future. Even small auto-transfers to savings rebuild the sense that tomorrow exists — the exact belief doom spending erodes.
- π Escalate when needed. If low mood is persistent, treat it as a health issue: 24% of US adults now see a mental health professional each year, double the rate of two decades ago [Source: Gallup](https://news.gallup.com/poll/708221/depression-rate-remains-elevated.aspx). Free debt advice exists too — StepChange in the UK, NFCC-member agencies in the US.
What Governments Are Doing
In the UK, the government announced a youth employment drive backed by £2.5 billion over three years: a £3,000 youth jobs grant for businesses hiring 18–24-year-olds who have been on Universal Credit for six months, a £2,000 apprenticeship incentive for SMEs, and £3.5 billion by decade’s end to help people with health conditions return to work [Source: The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/mar/15/sharp-rise-young-britons-ill-health-reason-jobless-study).
In the US, school-based mental health programs helped train and hire nearly 1,300 professionals and are credited with part of the teen improvement — but the administration’s 2025 cancellation of more than 200 Education Department grants has triggered lawsuits and warnings that the next YRBS survey could look considerably worse [Source: Education Week](https://www.edweek.org/leadership/teen-mental-health-is-improving-cdc-finds-then-why-are-experts-still-concerned/2026/09).
π Get the Weekly Economy & Society Briefing — FreeFrequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Doom spending is spending money impulsively to self-soothe feelings of stress, pessimism, or hopelessness about the economy and world events — retail therapy driven by despair rather than desire. Credit Karma, which popularized the term in a 2024 survey, found 27% of Americans admit to it, rising to 37% of Gen Z and 39% of millennials.
According to Credit Karma’s survey, 37% of Gen Z and 39% of millennials say they doom spend to cope with stress — the highest rates of any age group, compared with 27% of Americans overall.
Gallup data for Q1 2026 shows 28% of US adults aged 18-29 currently have or are being treated for depression — more than double the 13% recorded for the same age group in 2017. Among US teens there are tentative signs of improvement: the CDC’s 2025 Youth Risk Behavior Survey found 33.3% of high school students reported persistent sadness or hopelessness, down from 40% in 2023, though that is still far above pre-pandemic levels.
The Resolution Foundation reports the UK’s NEET rate (18-24-year-olds not in employment, education or training) rose from 13% in 2019 to 15% in 2025 — almost 900,000 young people. ONS data puts the number of NEETs aged 16-24 at 957,000, and the share of NEETs citing work-limiting health problems has risen 70% in a decade, with mental health problems and autism the main drivers.
Researchers describe it as rational despair: when big-ticket goals such as home ownership feel out of reach, saving feels pointless and small luxuries feel attainable. Trend forecaster Sean Monahan writes that “the money and economy are fake, the treats are real” — spending today becomes a self-soothing response to an economy that feels rigged against the young.
It can be. Impulse spending financed by buy-now-pay-later services or credit cards can compound debt and deepen financial stress, creating a cycle where anxiety fuels spending and spending fuels anxiety. Experts recommend budgeting for small “joy” purchases deliberately, automating savings, and treating persistent low mood as a health issue rather than a shopping problem.
In the UK, the government has announced a £2.5 billion youth guarantee package, including a £3,000 jobs grant for employers hiring young Universal Credit claimants and £3.5 billion to help people with health conditions back into work. In the US, federal school mental health grants trained nearly 1,300 professionals — but many were canceled in 2025, and educators warn future progress could be jeopardized.
In the US, call or text 988 to reach the confidential National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. In the UK, call Samaritans free on 116 123, or text SHOUT to 85258. If doom spending feels out of control, nonprofit credit counseling services such as StepChange (UK) or the NFCC (US) offer free, confidential debt advice.
This article cites survey and official data current as of November 2, 2026. The Credit Karma doom-spending survey was originally published in fall 2024 and is cited here as the term’s benchmark study; Gallup figures reflect Q1 2026; CDC YRBS figures reflect the 2025 survey released September 21, 2026; UK figures reflect Resolution Foundation (April 2026), Health Foundation and ONS (March 2026) data. Sources: Gallup, CDC MMWR, Education Week, The Guardian, Resolution Foundation.