The huge increase in respondents (an additional 7.5k+ since 2023) has not changed the results significantly, raising the MHI-5 score by 0.8 from 2023. While it appears that, compared to other segments of the population, students seem to be mentally unhealthy people who are scoring less than the threshold of 60 on the 0-100 MHI-5 scale, care must be taken not to assume that collectively all students are unhappy. With the SLM data, we can identify which cohorts of students are reporting lower happiness and living experience, and through the 4 development areas identified (Services and Facilities, Availability and Choice, Living and Community, and Targeted Support), we explore what the sector can do to help support them.

Download the Chart

The UK score excludes an additional 3,101 participants from the 10 Investor in Students organisations who chose to take part with a shorter survey, responding  only to the 5 MHI5 questions. The shorter survey gave us the MHI5 scores, however, we did not have the corresponding data to explain why these students exhibit the scores they do.   The collective score for this group was 59.7, which would increase the UK score to 57.8, in line with the EU average. Interestingly, the UK university members scored 60.5 collectively which is a testament to their sophistication and ability to build and curate large communities across their campuses.

Responses have increased vastly in the majority of countries, with Spain, and UK driving ahead in volumes of students taking part. Growth in participation will continue to strengthen the results of the survey and bring greater certainty at the country level.

Download the Chart

Students are happiest in Portugal, Spain, Austria, and Denmark. In Portugal and Spain, the impact on well-being of accommodation students live in is positive. Students are the least happy in UK, France, Germany, Ireland and Belgium. Students in Portugal and Sweden report much more positive results in 2024 in the overall state of their mental health, with Portugal remaining at top of the mental health chart.

For more country insights, go to our country insights page.