Chegg’s Global Student Survey 2025: UK students are struggling with mental health - how we compare worldwide
- A major international surveying effort has found many UK students report struggling with mental health issues recently
- They’re also feeling more anxious and struggling to make friends more than students in other countries
- But large numbers still feel optimistic about their future prospects
- Current university students are also embracing AI in their studies, including those in the UK
Large numbers of UK students are struggling with their mental health, polling shows, from feeling anxious or not sleeping, to more serious issues like burnout.
The results of US education tech company Chegg’s 2025 Global Student Survey were released on Tuesday (28 January), offering important insights into the lives, aspirations, and concerns of undergraduate students across the world. This year’s survey had a particular focus on “the age of AI”, and how it factors in to students’ work, studies, and hopes for the future.
Hide AdJust 56% of UK students who took part rated their mental wellbeing in the current term as ‘excellent’ or ‘good,’ which Chegg said reflected ongoing concerns about their emotional health. But the survey wasn’t just focused on domestic students - covering undergraduate students across a total of 15 different countries.
So how do we stack up on the world stage, when it comes to student happiness? Here’s what you need to know:
How are the UK’s undergraduate students doing?
The Global Student Survey is based on in-depth opinion polling of 11,706 undergraduate students aged 18-21, including 1,001 in the UK. Chegg said that it found an “alarming” number of UK students were struggling with their mental health.
More than half (54%) reported not getting enough sleep, while 49% said they had daily feelings of anxiety. About 44% had experienced academic burnout, while around two out of five (39%) said they had trouble meeting new people or making friends.
Hide AdThe survey also suggested that financial health was becoming a greater concern for UK students. This is of particular note, as the Government recently announced that it would be increasing its cap on university tuition for undergraduate students for the first time in more than seven years - although maintenance loans would also go up.
Most of the surveyed students (76%) agree that they would rather their university offered more online learning if it meant paying lower tuition fees - up from 66% in 2023. Similarly, 68% wouldn’t mind if their university degree took a shorter time to complete if it were cheaper (up from 62% in 2023). Although 62% of UK students agreed that their university education was good value for money, this was the third lowest percentage of all 15 countries.
When it came to generative AI and how it was shaping the modern university experience, two thirds of UK students said they had used it in some way to support their studies. But trust was a big issue, with half of users saying they were concerned about receiving incorrect or inaccurate information. Accuracy was also the key barrier preventing those who didn’t use it, cited by 38%.
Still, two-thirds of undergraduates believed their university should provide AI study tools, and 57% would like their curriculum to include AI training for their future career – up from 45% in 2023. UK students also appeared more positive about AI’s impact on their future careers, Chegg said, with 70% believing their degree would be useful in an AI-assisted workplace, a “marked rise” from 57% in 2023.
Hide AdHow do we compare to the rest of the world?
Asked to rate their mental wellbeing over the current academic term, the UK’s students fared quite badly on a global scale. Overall, 17% of UK students said their mental wellbeing had been ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’.
Of the 15 countries included in the study, only two outranked us in this measure; Australia with 24%, and South Africa with 20%. Brazil and South Korea were equal to the UK, with 17%. The lowest rate of students with poor self-reported mental wellbeing was Saudi Arabia at just 2%, with the country also having the highest rate of students with ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ mental wellbeing - 90%. To compare, only 56% of UK students agreed their mental wellbeing had been good recently, with the international average being 58%.
When it came to experiencing daily feelings of anxiety, UK students were above the international average (49% as opposed to 44%). They also experienced burnout, struggled to make friends, and engaged in unhealthy behaviours at a slightly higher rate than average.
Hide AdBut despite this, when asked if they generally felt happy overall 73% of UK students agreed - although this did only place us 11th out of 15. About 70% said they felt optimistic about the future, again putting us in 11th place.
A high 78% felt that their education was preparing them for the job market (11th globally), while 73% felt hopeful about their future finances and that they’d own their own home by 35 respectively (placing us at 12th in both categories). On top of that 73% of UK students felt their country was a good place to live - placing us at 8th overall.
If you’re a university student in need of urgent mental health support, you can reach out to the Samaritans here at any time. If you or a student you know is struggling, you can check out mental health charity Student Minds’ website here - which can help connect you with local or university-based resources.