Vienna (PK) – “Cosmopolitan, conservative in values and cautious” – this is how State Secretary Claudia Plakolm describes the age group from 15 to 29 years old in her report on youth (III-1083 dB). According to the report, in surveys on values and goals, the majority of young people were community and family oriented, with goal-oriented life planning and a commitment to important social issues. However, 46% of respondents fear that their children will one day have a worse life than them. In the face of climate catastrophe, war and inflation, 56% of young people are hesitant to bring children into the world.
Politics should allow young people to build a good life through their own achievements, concludes Plakolm. Specifically, property must also be made affordable again to the younger generation. Today's young people are pragmatists rather than revolutionaries, according to analysis of data from the Federal Chancellery survey. There is a profound loss of trust in politics and the media. State control of personal areas of life is rejected, but young people expect a strong state in the area of social support and security.
Since 1988, the responsible member of the government has presented a “Report on the situation of youth in Austria” once per legislature. This report is the eighth of its kind and is divided into two main areas: a statistical module supported by numbers and a content module that deals with young people's attitudes towards life and values. In addition to young people (14 – 24 years old), the focus of the report is also on the young adult age group (25 – 30 years old).
The proportion of young people is decreasing
As of January 1, 2023, just over a tenth (11.4%; 1,036,425 people) of the Austrian population is between the ages of 14 and 24; 6.5% (592,713 people) were between 25 and 29 years old. Almost a fifth of people aged 10 to 29 in Austria have foreign nationality. This value is higher than that of the total population and is explained by the Federal Chancellery with the educational, labor and refugee migration of young people. In 2023, a good tenth of young people aged 14 to 24 with foreign citizenship came from Germany, followed by Syria, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine. The report shows that the percentage of teenagers or young adults with a migrant background – that is, with immigrant parents – is 30.1% (in 2022).
The number of young people in Austria last year was approximately the same as in 1950, but the national population at that time was just 7 million people – today it is over 9 million. Given the drop in birth rates in the country, the increase in the number of teenagers and young people in recent years can be attributed to immigration, according to the Federal Chancellery.
Community as a fundamental value
The idea of the common good has surpassed individualism among young people, especially because of problems that can only be overcome collectively, such as the COVID-19 pandemic or climate change. In 2022, the third year of the coronavirus pandemic, 47% of young people aged 16 to 29 said that their family has become more important to them during the pandemic. For 67% of young people, “social issues” are a fundamental value, especially in times of crisis, as they demonstrated during the Corona lockdowns with their willingness to help neighbors and show solidarity with the older generation. In the same year, 16% of young Austrians also stated that climate protection has become even more important to them personally during the pandemic, although, according to the report, the youth climate movement is mainly anchored in education-related settings. Young people with low and medium formal education often felt they had better things to do than participate in Fridays For Future demonstrations. In any case, both the social sector and climate protection are mentioned by young people as important areas for political action.
Young people's sense of community is also expressed in the great emphasis they place on traditions (almost 68%), as well as the fact that 81% are proud to be Austrian (in 2021). The report's authors explain this emotional community bond primarily with the search for security in an increasingly volatile world.
Volunteering
Working voluntarily and unpaid for important causes is firmly anchored in Austrian youth culture. As part of the study on the future of volunteering, 70% of under-30s stated in 2022 that they had already volunteered for an important cause. In 2022, just over a quarter (26.6%) of youth and young adults participated in unpaid volunteer activities and activities within organizations or clubs. Outside of organizations, just over a third of people aged 15 to 29 (34.3%) worked on a voluntary basis. To further promote youth engagement, youth research recommends establishing open, project-related formats in which volunteer work goes hand in hand with pragmatic problem solving.
Education and employment
The report identifies training or employment opportunities as crucial for young people when choosing their place of residence in Austria. The preferred destinations for internal migration are therefore the state capitals, with the exception of Eisenstadt and Klagenfurt. The employment rate for young people aged 15 to 24 was 51.9% (in 2022), as almost half of the age group is still in training. The report highlights that Austria has already reduced the proportion of young people who do not study, work or undergo any training to 8.5% in 2021, in line with the EU target. There are quite clear gender differences in higher education. While about 30% of women in their 30s had a college degree in 2020, the figure was just 20.7% of men in their 30s. In general, the level of education in the country of origin has a strong impact on the educational career of young people. In 2020/21, around 53% of students came from academic families, although less than a fifth of the Austrian population had a university degree. (End) king