Persistent inequalities outweigh temporal change: adolescent wellbeing in Norway, 2021–2025

Background

Adolescent wellbeing is a key indicator of population health and health equity. This study examined levels and trends in wellbeing among Norwegian adolescents between 2021 and 2025, focusing on differences by gender, socioeconomic position (SEP), school grade, and municipal centrality.

Methods

We used data from the national Ungdata study, comprising annual cross‑sectional surveys from 2021 to 2025 (N = 298,780; 51% boys). Wellbeing was measured using a six‑item index (scored 1–5) assessing positive affect and eudaimonic functioning (Cronbach’s α = 0.88). General linear models were used to estimate mean differences by gender, SEP, school grade, municipal centrality, and survey year. Interaction terms were included to assess whether social gradients changed over time.

Results

Systematic inequalities in wellbeing were observed across all survey years. Boys reported higher wellbeing than girls (3.67 vs. 3.23). A clear socioeconomic gradient was evident, with wellbeing increasing from 3.36 among adolescents with low SEP to 3.52 among those with high SEP. Wellbeing declined modestly across school grades (grade 8: 3.51; grade 10: 3.40). Variation across survey years was small (range 3.41–3.49) compared with between‑group differences. Inequality patterns by gender, SEP, and school grade were stable over time. No substantive differences in wellbeing were observed by municipal centrality.

Conclusions

Adolescent wellbeing in Norway is characterised by persistent inequalities by gender, socioeconomic position, and age, with minimal variation across the 2021–2025 period. These inequalities are substantially larger than temporal changes. The findings indicate that structural inequalities in wellbeing remain stable across recent survey years.

Key messages

• Inequalities in adolescent wellbeing by gender and socioeconomic position are persistent and stable over time (2021–2025).

• Between group inequalities consistently outweigh temporal variation, indicating the dominance of structural determinants over short term population change.