New Year's resolutions: What does the world need to get right in 2026?

As 2026 approaches, plenty of us will be setting new year’s resolutions. 

The single most common New Year’s resolution last year was to save more or spend less, according to YouGov polling from last year, with 21% of resolution-makers saying they intended to try and improve their finances in this way.

Health-related resolutions were also common. One in six wanted to get fit or exercise more (17%), while 16% said that they wanted to lose weight (16%). Other related resolutions included to simply ‘be healthier’ (7%), eat more healthily (5%), and to improve mental health (1%).

The total health-related category encompassed 39% of those planning to make a New Year’s resolution.

Save money and get fit – pretty standard hopes for January. 

But the start of the year is also a time for broader reflection. Zooming out, what do you want to see happen in the world next year?

We took to the streets to ask people just that.

Read more:

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• How much will you spend on Christmas?
• When are you putting the heating on?

What would you like to happen in the world in 2026?

John: Victory for Ukraine, defeat for fascism in Europe, America and across the world, an end to xenophobia, an end to politicians constantly appealing to the worst instincts of people and trying to exploit problems instead of trying to solve them.

Charlotte: World peace! And maybe I want to move to London. I kind of like the cold.

Emily: More random acts of kindness. Just people being nice to shop workers. You know, you serve someone and they say ‘have a nice day’ when they leave that can make all the difference.

Cal: We’ve gone back quite a lot in terms of body diversity in fashion and stuff like that. I would like to see kind of a reprise of body diversity within, like brand campaigns and runways. We need to go back to what fashion was – kind of what we were getting to in, like, 2021 2022 2023 before this kind of heroin chic aesthetic came back.

Caroline and Gordon

C: How many homeless people are on the streets. And I find it really sad that in this day and age, the government aren’t able to deal with it. I’ve heard Andy Burnham on the news this morning talking about the homelessness in Manchester. Well, it’s not just Manchester. It’s all over, and obviously London’s the biggest place where it exists. So I’m really disappointed that the government don’t act upon it and do something about it, because they can, and they just don’t. I’ve just seen a guy up there, and it’s just heartbreaking to see them on the streets and not getting any help.

G: They managed to deal with it during covid, when there were all sorts of big issues going on. This could be solved overnight.

Andrea: Overconsumption, because people are buying many things even though they don’t need them. It’s so easy now, [people] just buy things online, but you don’t need them, you just do it.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

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