The paper reviews the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the state of mental health and social and labour potential of Russian and foreign youth. The pandemic has become a crisis situation, in many ways limiting basic human rights including the rights to health and life, to social protection and decent work, to liberty and security, etc. The author highlights not only the obviously negative consequences of the pandemic, but also its unusual emergent positive effect, expressed in a certain revitalisation of social life and the emergence of new everyday online practices (labour, communication, etc.). The successful experience of young people adapting to the coronavirus crisis has been noted to be generally successful and may be of use to older and future generations.
mental health; social and labour potential; labour strategies; youth; human rights; COVID-19 pandemic