PARIS, FRANCE
Alone in a tiny studio apartment in Paris, unable to leave the country to see her boyfriend, cut off from friends, and uncertain about her future, Solene Tissot felt the weight of the COVID-19 pandemic building up inside her.
"You quickly find yourself overwhelmed by all this. You quickly feel suffocated," said the 19-year-old.
Tissot, who moved to Paris two years ago to study at the Sciences-Po university, is now seeing a psychologist.
She has been diagnosed with depression and anxiety disorder, conditions she says were triggered by the loneliness brought on by COVID-19 lockdowns.
Such restrictions have taken a toll on the mental health of French youth. Between September and November this year, when a fresh lockdown was imposed in France, the proportion of 18- to 24-year-olds with depression went up to 21% from 11%, according to the French public health authority.
Tissot no longer attends lectures in person because her university has cancelled them. Movement restrictions often make it unlawful for her to visit friends at home.
She has not seen her grandparents in a year. Her course requires her to do an internship. But with many firms operating remotely, she is struggling to find somewhere to take her.
Next year, she was due to do a study year in Lebanon - where her boyfriend lives - but it's unclear if travel restrictions will allow it.
Once she graduates, finding work will be harder because of COVID-19. According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, 22% of French people aged 15 to 24 were neither in work nor education in the third quarter of this year, up from 19% the year before.
Tissot though, is looking to the future. She is learning Arabic, in preparation for the trip to Lebanon she hopes will go ahead.
"What I hope for is also that we can go back to a life that is a bit more normal, and that means being able to see friends without it being illegal to go to their place," she said.
"It's true that 2020 didn't leave much room for good cheer, and I would like to have that again."
CAIRO, EGYPT
Abdullah El-Berry, a 22-year-old trainee sports journalist, entered 2020 thinking life would be tough. A severe knee injury needed daily physiotherapy and seriously affected his three-hour commute to Cairo from his home in the Delta city of Shebine al-Qanatir.
After the pandemic hit, he could not continue physiotherapy as Egypt's hospitals were overrun with patients. He could not present his graduation project or attend his long-awaited graduation ceremony. The suspension of sports made it near impossible to do his job. And his daily commute was thrown in disarray by night curfews.
Now, he believes 2021 will be even tougher. Paid very little as a trainee at a state-owned newspaper, the young graduate worries he will struggle to find a proper job.
"We already suffer to find a job," he said. "Now, many people lost their jobs due to coronavirus and the economic crisis. It will definitely impact us all."
Egypt's population has been growing fast and just over half of its 102 million people are under 25, according to U.N. data.
Unemployment is high among young people, women and graduates. In the first quarter of 2020, the jobless rate for those aged 15-19 stood at 19.7% and for those aged 20-24 at 13.9%, against an overall rate of 7.7%, according to statistics agency CAPMAS. For women aged 20-24 and graduates it was almost 50%.
Having survived years of tough economic reforms and austerity measures, many Egyptians are unsure how to weather the coronavirus storm. Lockdowns have paralysed tourism and other vital sectors, hitting the economy hard and cutting growth forecasts.
Berry believes social distancing and wearing masks will continue to control lives in 2021, and make young people of his generation less likely to travel and explore new opportunities.
His wishlist for 2021 includes advancing his career and resuming work on a YouTube channel he abandoned due to his studies and coronavirus.
MOSCOW, RUSSIA
In early 2020, Galina Akselrod-Golikova, 23, was preparing to travel from Moscow to Italy for a marketing and PR job at the Venice biennale's Russian pavilion. She couldn't wait to start.
The dream never happened: the whole event was postponed, the job disappeared and, instead of travelling abroad, she ended up isolated from her friends and family in an apartment in Moscow as a tough lockdown suddenly began in April.
The shock upset her deeply. She fretted so much that she developed stress-induced health issues. In time though, she said she was relieved to have a chance to refocus her life and have time to think.
She said she slowed down for the first time and put her energy into decorating the apartment where she lives with her boyfriend with stylish ornaments, antique furniture and flower arrangements.
"This year was the first time I started to devote so much time to my home, to buying some little things, and to stay there and to think about my space and to express myself through it," she said.
She has not rushed to get a new job, and with time to reflect she has realised that she wants to enrol for a masters degree in food studies in Rome next year.
Russia has resisted a second lockdown in order to soften the economic blow of the pandemic. Unemployment during the health crisis peaked at 6.4% in August, with young people making up 22% of that total.
Despite the upheaval, Akselrod-Golikova believes that the pandemic has brought many positive things into her life, though she acknowledges it was easier for younger people to adjust quickly.
"I've started to appreciate my time as a resource and to devote it to my family, to my friends and to spend more time with them, including getting to know my parents and friends in new ways," she said.
SAO PAULO, BRAZIL
Joao Vitor Cavalcante, 19, had trained hard throughout 2019 for his budding career as a professional cyclist. He thought 2020 would be his best year so far.
But the pandemic upended that dream, prompting him to take a job at a car repair shop and give up his plans for a career in cycling.
"Cycling is not easy, it is cruel, although I enjoyed that cruelty," Cavalcante told Reuters. "Now I don't want to live off of that anymore. Instead I want to live to do it."
Cavalcante is one of millions of Brazilian Gen Zs who have had to drastically adjust their aspirations due to the pandemic's effect on the economy.
According to a survey financed by several Brazilian nonprofits, about 23% of Brazilians aged between 15 and 29 looked for new ways to make up lost income during the pandemic. About 60% signed up for emergency government payments, which handed out more than half of Brazil's minimum wage to any citizen without a formal job.
For Cavalcante, there was no other option. His parents were forced to shut down the family clothing store during the first few months of the pandemic and his sponsor left him when cycling competitions were cancelled.
His uncle, aware of the economic constraints, asked him to work at his car repair shop.
"He was my salvation," Cavalcante said. "Either I took that job or I would be working for nothing. Last year, I sort of had a future (in cycling), but that time has passed."
Cavalcante now works eight hours a day repairing cars, although he says he dislikes washing dirty auto parts. But it is a job that helped support his family during a rough time.
He wants to compete again in 2021, but only as an amateur.
"For 2021, I hope that things return to normal and that people can see their friends and family again and that they value their affection," he said.
