Report: Young Tanzanians lead globally in mental health resilience

TANZANIA: THE Sapien Labs, a global leader in mental health research, has released the Mental State of the World 2024 report, revealing that Tanzania’s young adults demonstrate stronger mental resilience, achieving the highest recorded mental well-being scores among all 76 countries surveyed globally.

Sapien Labs’ Centre for Research of Brain and Mind (CEREBRAM) housed at the Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) runs the largest ongoing human brain study in Africa. Combining brain physiology measured with Electroencephalography (EEG) with assessment of mind health and environmental factors, CEREBRAM has collected data on over 5000 people across a wide diversity of Tanzania’s tribes, populations and geographies to shed light on the environmental impacts on brain and mind.

The report, which analysed over one million responses worldwide from internet enabled populations in 76 countries, across all continents, shows that Tanzania stands out as the only country where the average Mental Health Quotient (MHQ) of internet-enabled young adults exceeds 70.

These figures contrasts sharply with Western nations, where youth mental well-being has been in steep decline since 2019, with no signs of recovery.

The decline in mind health across the world is characterised by a deterioration of the ability to control and regulate thoughts and emotions as well as form and maintain positive relationships with people.

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According to the report, older populations across the globe ranked well with an average of 100 MHQ in populations of 55+ countries that ranked high in older populations, with a score of over 110 including countries in Africa, Central and South America, South East Asia, Israel and the UAE.