In one of the largest global studies of its kind to be conducted, the Barna study, carried out in partnership with World Vision, examined the data of 15,369 people aged 18- to 35-year-olds across 25 countries.

It found that those who attended a place of worship on a weekly basis were less likely to say that they experienced anxiety (22%), compared with those who did not attend church regularly (33%).

While half of practising Christians (51%) said they felt “optimistic about the future”, this fell to a third (34%) among those with no faith.

Young people with no faith were more likely to say they often felt sad or depressed (28%) than practising Christians (18%), and they were also more likely to report feeling “lonely and isolated from others” (31% vs 16%).

While less than a third of respondents with no faith (29%) said they felt “able to accomplish my goals”, this rose significantly among practising Christians to 43 per cent.

Those without a faith were twice as likely as those with an active faith to say they felt “uncertain about the future” (51% vs 27%).