How Gen Z in the UK navigates healthcare: Social media, cost and caution

Key Takeaways:

• 40% of Gen Z get health information from social media, almost twice the rate of older generations (22%).
• 24% of Gen Z consider treatment cost when deciding on care, compared with 16% of older adults.
• 31% of Gen Z say hospitals “freak them out,” versus 21% of older generations.

Gen Z in the UK is coming of age in a very different health and wellness landscape from the generations before them. Shaped by a digital-first world, a heightened focus on mental and physical wellbeing, and shifting expectations of institutions, their approach to healthcare and pharma looks markedly different. At the same time, questions are emerging about where this generation places its trust, how it navigates information, and what ultimately guides its decisions when it comes to health.

Those differences become clear when you look at where Gen Z turn first for health and wellness information. YouGov Profiles data shows that the contrast is sharpest in their reliance on social media.

Around 40% say they turn to social media platforms for health and wellness information, almost twice the rate of older generations (22%). That makes social media nearly as common a source as doctors and health professionals (47%). Friends and family are close behind at 44% for Gen Z, compared with 37% among other generations, underscoring just how much more heavily younger adults lean on peer networks.

Older generations, by contrast, continue to look first to doctors (57%) and are much more likely to cite news articles (21%), TV shows (11%) or magazines (10%), sources that don’t register with Gen Z as much. The one place both groups meet in the middle is health and medical websites, which sit at 39% for each.

The data points to a generation whose health choices are being shaped as much by the digital world and by those around them as by clinics and official advice, a dynamic that raises both opportunities and risks for institutions trying to earn their trust.

What really drives treatment decisions

But where people look for information is only the starting point. It’s in weighing up a treatment that their true priorities emerge.

For both Gen Z and older generations, side effects top the list of considerations: 47% of Gen Z and 50% of older adults say this matters most when weighing up a treatment. But once side effects are accounted for, different priorities emerge. Cost stands out as a defining factor for younger adults with almost a quarter (24%) of Gen Z considering the overall cost of treatment (excluding prescriptions), compared with just 16% of older generations. The same proportion (24%) say the price of a prescription itself influences their decision, versus only 14% of older adults.

Older generations, by contrast, are more likely to place value on who delivers the care. A quarter (25%) say the reputation of the clinician or doctor matters to them, compared with 19% of Gen Z. The reputation of the medical centre is a factor for both groups, cited by 18% of Gen Z and 16% of older adults.

One striking difference is the level of uncertainty. Convenience plays a role too, 15% of Gen Z and 14% of older generations take proximity to home into account.

Testimonials sway 9% of Gen Z and 8% of older adults, while whether treatment is covered by insurance matters to 7% of Gen Z and 5% of their older counterparts.

Gen Z aspire to wellness but feel the weight of media and medical anxiety

Beneath these choices sit broader attitudes toward health, and here too the generational contrasts are telling. Gen Z are more likely than older adults to say they aspire to being fit and healthy (82% vs. 75%), but their attitudes also reflect the pressures of growing up in a digital-first world. Half (51%) admit advertising shapes how they view their body image, compared with 31% of older adults, and more than a quarter (27%) say they compare themselves to fitness influencers on social media — more than three times the rate of older groups (8%). Anxieties about traditional healthcare settings also run deeper. Nearly a third of Gen Z (31%) say hospitals “freak them out,” versus 21% of older adults. The result is a generation striving toward health and wellness, but one whose aspirations are filtered through the influence of media and for some of them, their relationship with healthcare institutions is marked by unease.

Gen Z comes across as a generation that aspires to wellness but navigates it on its own terms, through peers, platforms, price sensitivity as much as through professionals. Their decisions are shaped by cost pressures and digital influences. For pharma, insurers and healthcare providers, the challenge is not only to meet Gen Z where they are, but to do so with the credibility and reassurance this group needs. For those in this space who can combine authority with authenticity, the opportunity is just as clear.

Methodology: YouGov Profiles is based on continuously collected data through rolling surveys, rather than a single limited questionnaire. Figures are drawn from responses collected between 28 August 2024 and 29 August 2025, using a 52-week dataset updated weekly. Data is nationally representative of adults (18+) in Great Britain and weighted by age, gender, region, education, and social grade.

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