The New Year’s resolutions Brits are making for 2026
As 2025 draws to a close, many Britons’ minds are turning to the year ahead and the opportunities the changing calendar provides for self-improvement.
New data from YouGov shows one in five Britons (19%) say they plan to make New Year’s Resolutions for 2026. The younger Britons are, the more likely they are to be making an annual promise to themselves, with 37% of 18-24 year olds saying they will do so, compared to only 11% of those over the age of 65.
Asking resolution-makers to say, in their own words, what their pledges will be for next year, finds health resolutions top the list.
Almost a quarter (23%) say they intend to get fit or to exercise more, while 17% say they want to lose weight and 11% say they want to eat more healthily. A further 10% gave more non-specific answers about wanting to ‘be more healthy’.
After this, the next most common resolution is to save more or spend less (7%), with another 4% saying they wanted to improve their financial management.
Elsewhere, 5% of people say they wanted to be a better person, or otherwise improve their personality or attitudes, while 4% say they want to make more quality time with loved ones in the next 12 months, and a further 4% want to find or change jobs.
The data shows that one in nine (11%) people remember (or admit to) having set resolutions for 2025. Of this group, more than a third claim to have kept all of the resolutions they made (38%), while 33% profess to have kept to some, but not all, of their personal promises to themselves at the beginning of the year.
Only one in four (24%) admit to having failed to keep any of their New Year’s resolutions.
