Young people more worried about Brexit than Covid-19

Two fifths (42%) of adults aged 18-29 report being stressed about Brexit, more than the proportion who are worried about catching Covid-19 (32%) or becoming seriously ill from the disease (22%), find UCL researchers as part of the Covid-19 Social Study. Across all adults, almost a third (30%) reported being stressed about Brexit between 23 December to 7 February, lower than the proportion worried about catching Covid-19 (38%) or becoming seriously ill from the virus (33%). Almost one in ten (8%) respondents in England and Wales say they are majorly stressed about Brexit, but this rises to 14% in Scotland, the same proportion who are majorly stressed about catching Covid-19. While stress levels about Brexit have decreased from 34% the week of the end of the transition period to 27% the week ending 7th February, concerns clearly remain for a substantial proportion of people. People with higher incomes reported that Brexit was a major source of stress more often than those with lower incomes, but people with lower incomes were more worried about catching (15%) and falling seriously ill from Covid-19 (16%) than people with higher incomes (10% and 11%, respectively). Major stress about catching Covid-19 is highest in those over 60 (14%), but 15% of adults in both this age group and those aged 30-59 reported being worried about falling seriously ill from the disease. It is the UK's largest study into how adults are feeling about the lockdown, government advice and overall wellbeing and mental health with over 70,000 participants who have been followed across the last 46 weeks.