Health, finances and fitness: Key themes for 2025 New Year’s Resolutions

New Year’s resolutions are more than personal commitments; they can reflect societal trends and aspirations, offering insights into consumer behaviour. For brands and marketers, understanding who is setting resolutions and their focus areas could be critical for shaping campaigns, products and services in the coming year.

We used YouGov Self-serve – our fast-turnaround, fully self-serve survey platform – to find out more about Brits’ mindsets regarding resolutions. The survey addresses several key questions around resolution making in the coming year, including:

• Who’s planning to make resolutions in 2025 and what are some key themes?
• How long do consumers expect to keep up with their resolutions based on past experiences?
• Which resolutions are the hardest to keep and most likely to be abandoned? 

Young people, Londoners more likely to set a 2025 resolution

According to YouGov research, nearly three in ten British adults (29%) plan to make New Year’s resolutions for 2025. However, a majority (60%) have no plans to set resolutions, with 11% undecided.

At 51%, young adults aged 18 to 24 are the most likely of any age group to say they will set a 2025 resolution while those 60 and over are the least likely to say so (16%).

By region, those who live in London (46%) are more likely than those living in any other region to make resolutions especially when compared to those who live in the South (23%), East (25%), and Scotland (25%).

What types of New Year’s resolutions will people set for the coming year?

Health and self-improvement dominate the list of resolutions. Half of those setting goals aim to eat healthier (50%), while 45% want to become fitter and 42% will focus on losing weight.

Financial management also ranks high, with 32% planning to save more, track spending, or reduce debt. Meanwhile, three in ten (30%) want to be more productive or organised.

Mental well-being is another key area of focus as 32% aim to prioritise mental health. Fostering relationships (18%), picking up new hobbies (18%), and traveling more (17%) capture goals beyond traditional health and financial objectives.

Smaller segments of the population wish to focus on career advancement (16%), environmental consciousness (14%), romantic relationships (11%) and education (7%).

How long can people uphold their resolutions?

The challenge of maintaining resolutions is evident. A fifth of resolution makers (20%) say their resolve usually lasts a month or less, while 16% say they stick with it for two to three months. Fewer than on in ten (9%) say they’re usually successful at keeping their resolution all year round.

Strategies for success vary. The majority (54%) prefer to keep their resolutions private, while 26% share them with others. Writing down goals is less common, with just 16% adopting this method.

Which resolutions are the hardest to keep up with? 

Not all resolutions are created equal when it comes to adherence. Food- and diet-related goals are the hardest to keep, with 45% citing these as their biggest challenge. Fitness-related resolutions follow closely at 43%. 

Behind those health-related resolutions by a wide margin are finance-related resolutions, which are viewed as hardest to keep up with by 17% of Brits, followed by mental health resolutions at 14%. Roughly a tenth of people say work-related (10%) and relationship resolutions (9%) are challenging to uphold.

Methodology: YouGov polled 1000 UK adults on December 3, 2024. The survey was carried out through YouGov Surveys: Self-serve. Data is weighted by age, gender, political affiliation, education level and region. Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Self-serve.

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