The 2024 Eurobarometer Youth Survey highlights youth optimism towards the Union, but also concerns over issues like climate change and rising living costs.
President Ursula Von der Leyen stated in her Mission Letter to Commissioner Glenn Micallef: “Europe needs to give young people opportunities for the future and young people expect to be able to influence the decisions that shape Europe’s future.”
Europe’s future is deeply connected to the aspirations and contributions of its young citizens. As the next generation, they hold the key to addressing the challenges that lie ahead. Europe’s success in ensuring a competitive and sustainable future depends on the involvement and leadership of its youth, who play a pivotal role in driving change and setting standards. It is therefore crucial that their voices are not only heard but actively considered in shaping Europe’s evolution.
Along these lines, the European Commission (EC) Youth Outreach Unit of the Directorate-General for Communication (DG COMM) recently published the results of the Eurobarometer Youth Survey 2024. As a commitment to amplify young people’s voices and encourage their involvement in shaping Europe’s future policies, the survey was conducted in September 2024 on a large sample of 25’863 young people aged 16-30 in all 27 Member States. Respondents were surveyed on their opinions on the EU and its institutions, their sense of identity and belonging, their views on national and European cooperation, the values they consider most important, and the political issues they find most urgent.
Results of the survey show that around three in five surveyed youth are generally in favour of the EU. Nonetheless, 32% of those in favour are not satisfied with the way the EU is working at present. Moreover, 21% of respondents are completely sceptical about the EU as a project. This corresponds with the 2021 results where the survey showed the same share of scepticism among young people, but it is noticeable that the share of people satisfied with the way the EU is working slightly increased in 2024. Young people consider the greatest advantage of being part of the EU to be the opportunities for studying, volunteering, working and traveling abroad. They also highlight the opportunity for cooperation between their countries and other Member States as well as enhanced peace and security valuable strengths of the Union. In terms of their sense of belonging, the large majority of young people feel primarily attached to their countries and national identities. 51% of respondents report having limited to no knowledge of the functioning of the EU (55% in 2021), but still consider voting the most common and effective type of political participation to make one’s voice heard. Moreover, a large share of them (nine in ten in 2021) reported having engaged in a political or civic activity, and also consider volunteering, campaigning and boycotting certain products as being impactful political actions.
The large majority of respondents report using social media as the top (and only) source of information, whereas in 2021, national media and news websites were still considered a more trusted source of information. Moreover, more than three fourths of respondents think that they have been exposed to misinformation and fake news lately. The challenge of navigating fake news and misinformation underscores the need for strong values that protect democratic principles and individual freedom. It then comes as no surprise that when asked, the most important values young people identify in the survey are protecting human rights, democracy and peace, closely followed by freedom of speech and thought. Nevertheless, this focus on key values is paralleled by a growing concern over practical issues. Namely, the political subjects that young people deem to be the most pressing are (in order of importance): rising prices and cost of living, highlighted by 40% of total respondents and coming as the primary worry in 12 Member States, environment and climate change, highlighted by 33% of youth, followed by the economic situation and job creation (31%) and social protection and access to healthcare (29%). In comparison to 2021, tackling poverty and social inequalities, as well as combatting climate change were on top of the list of concerns.
Addressing these concerns and engaging young people with the EU project will be among the key responsibilities of Commissioner Glenn Micallef. The freshly appointed Maltese European Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport recently hosted his first Youth Policy Dialogue in Athens, bringing young people with diverse backgrounds from all over Europe on the topic “All in: promoting inclusiveness through sports and culture”, tackling issues such as accessibility to culture for young people and social cohesion through sports. As President Von der Leyen wrote in her mission letter: “Your task will be to ensure we keep supporting young people and build on what we have in common and what brings us together in diversity”. As the youngest Commissioner of the college, the youngest ever culture Commissioner and the first Intergenerational Fairness Commissioner, he may be well-equipped to contribute to achieving these objectives.