Millennials on track to have worse health problems than their parents by middle age, new study finds

Millennials are to become the first generation to have worse health problems than their parents when they reach middle age, according to a new study.

The impact of employment, relationships and housing on people currently in their 20s and 30s will lead to a higher risk of "lifestyle" diseases such as cancers, heart disease and diabetes in 30 years' time.

The report, commission by the Health Foundation think tank, says that despite public health measures leading to an improvement on traditional measures such as smoking and alcohol use, millennials are "losing ground" on these important environmental and social factors.

The report draws on links between insecure work with higher instances of psychological stress, saying that millennials' future health may suffer on the back of trends such as zero-hour contracts and graduates working non-graduate jobs.

A secure home is a "building block" for good future health, the report adds, yet just 31 per cent of the 2,000 people aged between 22 and 26 who took part in the survey said they had had strong support networks while growing up. 

Less than half of the respondents said they had enough financial and practical family support, and 49 per cent said they had enough emotional support from family.

The study also points out that social media means millennials have to nurture relationships digitally as well as in person, the impact of which is currently unknown. Eighty per cent of those that responded said that social media pressured them to act in certain ways.

Jo Bibby, the foundation’s policy director, told The Times: “There are already signs that the gains made in improving the health of previous generations may well be eroded by the precariousness and instability of the lives many young people are facing.”

Michael Marmot, professor of epidemiology and public health at University College London, told the newspaper: "I agree with them that we may be storing up problems for the future, in addition to whatever problems of mental illness, crime and the like that may be happening right now.”