PlayGround conducts a macro-survey of young people from the Z and Millennial generations in Spain about their future

Young people are concerned about difficult access to the labour market and housing and the poor quality of employment

photo_camera PlayGround realiza una macroencuesta a los jóvenes de las generaciones Z y Milenial de España sobre su futuro

The study carried out on the initiative of the communication company PlayGround, whose analysis has been coordinated by Liliana Arroyo, PhD in Sociology, with the collaboration of the Ashoka Foundation, ESIC University and the technological support of the citizen participation platform Osoigo, reveals today the ranking of the greatest concerns of young people in Spain and proposes what kind of future young people want to build at this critical time.

"The Future is Now" is a digital survey of 89 questions in which 13,587 young Spaniards between 16 and 34 years of age from 51 municipalities in rural and urban areas took part. The study has been carried out during the second quarter of 2021 through the citizen participation platform Osoigo and has been promoted through PlayGround's social networks, which have more than 28 million followers around the Spanish-speaking world, segmenting participation to reach these young people by location and age range.

The three main concerns of most of the young Spaniards surveyed, as expected, have to do with the difficult access to the labour market and housing and the poor quality of employment, in addition, the survey yields many other essential and not so obvious facts.

Emilia Morales, researcher and co-responsible for the data analysis of the survey explains that: "This survey corroborates the urgent need of young people to have decent living conditions and to be listened to by the political class". 

PlayGround realiza una macroencuesta a los jóvenes de las generaciones Z y Milenial de España sobre su futuro

For his part, Alberto Alonso, journalist and co-responsible for the data analysis of the survey, says: "It reveals that in Spain there is a generation that cannot look to the future with illusion and knows perfectly well that what awaits them is not going to be a more comfortable life than that of previous generations".

Likewise, the President of the Congress, Meritxell Batet, will receive today the team responsible for the study "The Future is Now" and, tomorrow Thursday at 10:00 a.m., she promotes a debate on its results among the youngest deputies of the House. PlayGround shares the conclusions of the macro-survey with representatives of the entire political spectrum with the aim of conveying the needs and concerns of Spanish youth and to raise awareness among the parties so that the 40 proposals begin a journey in the different parliamentary committees.

All these data and demands are extracted from questions such as: How important do you think the opinion of young people is to politicians when it comes to drawing up policies; If you could highlight one area in which you consider European coordination to be important, what would it be; How do you consider the development of your learning in the current education system to have been; How would you assess the level of environmental awareness and education provided to address and understand the climate emergency; How would you rate the level of environmental awareness and education provided to address and understand the climate emergency; How would you rate the level of environmental education provided to address and understand the climate emergency?

PlayGround realiza una macroencuesta a los jóvenes de las generaciones Z y Milenial de España sobre su futuro

Ranking of concerns of young Spaniards

In response to the question: "Thinking about your immediate future, what worries you most?

Concerns of young Spaniards % of the total

1 Access to the labour market 14.14
2 Quality of employment 11.26
3 Access to housing 8.84
4 Social problems (injustices, inequalities) 6,89
5 Climate and environmental problems 6.25
6 Health 6.15
7 Crisis of values 5.33
8 Political management 4.63
9 Gender inequality 4.46
10 Taxation 4.16
11 Economic problems 3,91
12 Corruption and fraud 3.87
13 Education 3.86
14 Pensions 3.61
15 Cuts 3.44
16 Citizen insecurity 3.13
17 The functioning of public services 2.49
18 Immigration 1.20
19 Nationalism 1.20
20 Drugs 1.15

PlayGround realiza una macroencuesta a los jóvenes de las generaciones Z y Milenial de España sobre su futuro

Key data from the study 'the future is now'
Employment and housing 

The majority of the almost 13,587 young Spaniards surveyed, 93%, say that there is very little job offer for young people between 18 and 25 years of age and 1 in 3 say that housing is one of their biggest concerns.

Environment, health and inequalities

85% of those surveyed think that little or no action is planned against the long-term climate emergency and 75% that the level of environmental awareness in Spain is insufficient.

Half of the opinions collected, 51%, recognise that Spain is a country that has made important reforms in favour of reducing inequalities, but agree that it is still not enough and think that further progress is needed to develop new social rights.

Although half of those surveyed, 51%, consider Spain to be an advanced country in terms of reducing inequalities, 92% are very concerned about social problems, especially gender inequality between men, women, trans, non-binary, androgynous and gender-fluid people.

According to the study, 75% of young people believe that the level of environmental awareness is insufficient, with 85% believing that there is not enough planning in Spain against the climate emergency.

More than half of those surveyed, 53%, consider themselves to be agents of change, i.e. they are involved in helping to solve a social challenge. This is also related to their consumption habits: 87% would be willing to stop buying a product that does not match their personal values.
Democracy and politics

92% of those surveyed think that the opinion of young people when it comes to policy-making matters little or nothing to politicians, which translates into the majority - 86.98% - feeling little or nothing represented by any of the current political parties. 

A noteworthy fact is the hope placed by young people in social movements. The majority of those interviewed, 68%, believe that social movements can bring about political change to a large extent. 

More than 72% of young people rate the quality of the democracy in which they live very low. Around 93% feel that their opinions do not matter when politicians are making policy proposals. And 87% of young people feel little or no representation from any political party.

PlayGround realiza una macroencuesta a los jóvenes de las generaciones Z y Milenial de España sobre su futuro

Education

The majority of those surveyed, 93%, think that the general approach of the current public education system needs to improve in order to adapt to their future needs.

Despite the fact that education appears as the 13th of their concerns, when asked about the best way to tackle the problems in Spain, 93% of Spanish youth think that the current public education system should be improved to adapt to their future needs. 

Other topical issues

There is widespread concern about mental health (it appears in at least 63% of the responses analysed in relation to health). It is proposed to increase its coverage within the Social Security system and it is presented as one of the necessary conditions for the well-being of young people today. 

It is striking that more than half, 51%, feel more integrated within social networks than outside, and 71% believe that hate speech should be banned, not only on social networks, but also within Congress.

Finally, it is worth noting the lack of concern among the young people surveyed about two issues that are currently making headlines in Spain: immigration and nationalism, as they are at the bottom of the ranking of their 20 main concerns. 

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