Lyba Laraib
There is a particular kind of silence that fills a home when a young person stops talking about the future. It is not the peaceful quiet of contentment, but the heavy, suffocating pause of a dream deferred. In Pakistan today, that silence is echoing across millions of households. We are a nation bursting with potential nearly 64% of our population is under the age of 30, a demographic dividend we proudly call our greatest asset. Yet, for far too many, the bridge between that grand promise and their daily reality has collapsed.
The numbers are staggering, but they are more than just statistics. Recent estimates suggest that nearly 2.3 crore (23 million) people in this country are grappling with mental health issues directly linked to the crushing weight of having no opportunities. This is not just about a bad day at work; it is about the slow, corrosive despair of feeling useless in a society that equates your worth with your employment status.
The Gap Between the Degree and the Desk.
We have told our children a lie. We told them that if they studied hard, got the degree, and stayed on the straight path, a job would be waiting for them. But the reality tells a different, harsher story. Every year, hundreds of thousands of graduates pour out of our universities, clutching degrees that once promised a future. They enter a job market that simply cannot absorb them. Youth unemployment in Pakistan hovers around 15% , but for educated young people especially women the figure is far higher and far more painful.
Think about what that does to a 23-year-old who has spent years in lecture halls, only to find themselves back in their childhood bedroom, sending out CV after CV into a void. The psychological toll is immediate and brutal. Studies consistently show that unemployment is not just a financial crisis, it is a psychological one. The odds of experiencing depression are 64% higher for unemployed individuals, and the risk of feeling isolated and afraid skyrockets. When you are young, your job is more than a paycheck; it is your identity, your social circle, and your proof that you belong to the adult world. Take that away, and you take away the scaffolding of a person’s mental health.
The Aspiration Gap.
Economists talk about the “aspiration gap” the distance between the life you expected and the life you can actually access. In Pakistan, that gap has become a canyon. Young people see the gleaming towers of Lahore and Karachi, the success stories on social media, but the door is locked. They watch their peers abroad build lives they can only dream of, while they are told to “be patient” and “keep trying.”
When the path to a stable life is blocked, desperation sets in. We see it in the alarming rates of young people taking their own lives, and in the silent epidemic of hopelessness among those who are working terrified of losing the little they have. The Pakistan Association for Mental Health and countless psychiatrists across the country warn that depression and anxiety among youth are reaching crisis levels. This is not a coincidence, it is a direct response to an environment that offers high pressure and low reward.
A System That Looks Away
What makes this tragedy even harder to bear is the systemic neglect. Mental health in Pakistan remains the poor cousin of physical health. Our national health budget allocates barely a fraction to mental health services. We have only about 0.19 psychiatrists for every 100,000 people among the lowest ratios in the world. Even if a young person finds the courage to seek help, the infrastructure to catch them simply isn’t there.
The treatment gap is a staggering 70% to 92% . This means that for every ten people struggling with their mental health due to joblessness or despair, seven to nine will suffer in silence. They will not get help because the clinics are full, the stigma is too great, or they simply cannot afford it. In a country where family honour is tightly woven into social fabric, admitting to mental distress is often seen as weakness, not illness.
A Human Call to Action.
We cannot simply tell our youth to “hustle harder” or “upskill” while ignoring the structural failure of opportunity. A generation cannot live on aspiration alone. They need jobs that pay a living wage. They need counseling that is accessible and affordable. They need a society that values them as human beings, not just as economic units or future voters.
The 2.3 crore people facing mental health issues are not a statistic, they are our neighbours, our siblings, our friends. They are the ones who wake up every morning with a knot in their stomach because they feel like they are falling behind in a race they never signed up for.
It is time we stop measuring the country’s progress solely by GDP growth or foreign investment, and start measuring it by the mental well-being of its youth. If we do not build a bridge for them now, the silence of their despair will become the defining sound of our nation’s future.
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