The number of 12 to 25-year-olds who are depressed and have trouble sleeping is increasing, latest figures from statistics agency CBS have shown.

In 2022, 22% of youngsters said they had had trouble sleeping in de previous two weeks compared to 14% in 2017. Some 16%, or twice as many youngsters than in 2017, said they had had psychological problems in the previous month.

Some 12% said they had suffered from depression in 2022, compared to just 5% in 2017, the CBS said in its annual youth monitor. Even though this was down to self-diagnosis, there is “clearly something wrong with the youth of the Netherlands,” the CBS said.

Experts had hoped the dip in self esteem and other mental health issues would disappear after the coronavirus restrictions but this does not yet seem to have been the case.

And despite a rise in self-reported mental health problems, the number of young people who sought help from mental health services only showed a relatively minor increase, from 11% in 2017 to 14% in 2022.

The figures also show young women are more likely than men to look for help. Twice as many teenage girls (14%) as boys (7%) said they had been in contact with a psychologist, psychiatrist or psychotherapist. The figures for 18 to 25-year-olds were 21% and 14% respectively.