November 3, 2025

Report – The Next Generation of Faith: Journeys, Meaning and Wellbeing

This report investigates changes in faith amongst 18-34 year olds, with a particular focus on the drivers of faith change, the generational expectations from faith, and the significance the change has across different age groups. Amid the growing debate on the future of faith in Britain, this report highlights how younger adults approach faith less as a social inheritance, and more as a personal means for emotional wellbeing. By contrast, older generations continue to engage with faith primarily as a source of stability and as a social inheritance.

Together, these shifts reveal why older generations have a more holistic, all encompassing experience of faith on which they base their worldview, compared to a more individually-confined/centered approach from younger generations that tie in with their experience and expectations for better emotional and mental wellbeing. These contribute to our understanding of the profound paradigm shift for ‘faith’ amongst younger generations.

Below are the key findings from the report.

Download the report

Faith is moving from being a ‘social’ and inherited experience, towards an increasingly personal one.

For 18-24s coming into religion, the three most popular reasons were: a personal connection with God/the divine, a sense of meaning/purpose/moral clarity, and a desire for personal transformation or healing.
18-34s who experienced weakened faith were more likely to attribute this to a conflict between personal values and faith teachings (25%) compared to the wider population (16%). Similarly, 18-34s were twice as likely to have weakened faith due to intellectual or philosophical disagreements (14%) compared to the wider population (7%).
An individual engaging with religion primarily through social media has a 93% likelihood of coming into religion, with only a 7% likelihood of becoming atheist/agonistic or experiencing weakened faith.
The likelihood of becoming atheist/experiencing weakened faith for those that have been raised in religious households is inversely proportional to age – an 18-34 year old that has been raised in a religious household has a 56% likelihood of experiencing weaker faith/becoming an atheist. (36% for 35+).
A 18-34 year-old that has had their first exposure to faith through school has a 63% likelihood of experiencing weaker faith/becoming an atheist compared to 41% of 35+.
An 18-34 year old is more than twice as likely to leave a faith because of a lack of belonging or support in the community than a 65+. 18-34s therefore demonstrate more personal agency by being less compromising on negative experiences and less likely to overlook lack of belonging/support.

Young people’s engagement with faith is driven by awareness of their mental health, with faith serving as a means to enhance their emotional and mental wellbeing.

40% of 18-34s that are moving into faith/changing religions are doing so because of a desire for personal transformation or healing. This goes down to 29% for those older than 35.
18-34s were most likely (27%) to identify ‘mental health’ as a key part of their faith journey. In contrast, only 16% of those over the age of 35 were likely to identify mental health as a key part of their faith journey.
Of the 18-34s who selected mental health, over half (56%) reported a deepening faith trajectory. The research suggests a search for better mental health is driving young individuals towards faith.
The most popular experience, post coming into faith or experiencing strengthened faith, for 18-34s is ‘I feel more mentally and emotionally healthy.’
18-24s were most likely (37%) to state they felt free and supported in making their decision. This drops to 24% for 65+, and the average across all age groups is 28%.

Faith no longer provides the moral compass and answers to suffering it once did.

18-34s are less likely to seek and find answers to address global fairness/inequality through faith. Of all the 18-34s that feel that global events have made them feel the world is increasingly unfair, 70% moved away from faith. Meanwhile, for those older than 35, this is only 48%. Only 41% of 18-34s experiencing positive faith movement (coming into faith, experiencing strengthened faith, or converting one from one faith to another) have stated that their faith helps them make sense of injustice and suffering.
18-34s that experienced weakened faith were more likely to attribute this to a conflict between personal values and faith teachings (25%) compared to the wider population (16%). Similarly, 18-34s were twice as likely to have weakened faith due to intellectual or philosophical disagreements (14%) than the wider population (7%).
18-34s are 41% more likely to experience a negative faith movement than those older than 35 in response to bereavement.

About the author

Rania Mohiuddin-Agir

Rania is passionate about understanding civic participation and community dynamics. She has a BA in International Relations from King’s College London, and an MSc in Sociology and Global Change from the University of Edinburgh. Committed to empowering inclusive communities, she contributes to social change through her research and advocacy.