Barometer report: EUROPEAN YOUTH: PARTICIPATION IN DEMOCRATIC LIFE

full report here.

EUROPEAN YOUTH: PARTICIPATION IN DEMOCRATIC LIFE

INTRODUCTION
The primary objective of the Flash Eurobarometer survey ?European Youth: Participation
in Democratic Life? (No 375) was to study young EU citizens? participation in society, with
special reference to attitudes towards participation in elections and intentions to
participate in the European elections in 2014. Only respondents aged 15 to 30 were
considered for this survey.
This issue is of particular interest for the European Union, as its Treaties1
stipulate that it
shall encourage the participation of young people in democratic life in Europe. The EU
Youth Strategy2
also underlines the need to support young people?s participation in
representative democracy and civil society.

The survey examined the following issues:
? young people?s involvement in a range of groups and clubs such as sports clubs,
youth organisations and cultural organisations. The findings are compared with
those from the same question which was previously asked in a Flash
Eurobarometer survey ?Youth on the Move? (No 319a) conducted in early 2011
? young people?s participation in political elections at the local, regional or national
level, the results of which are again compared with those from ?Youth on the
Move? (No 319a)
? young EU citizen?s awareness and intended participation in forthcoming European
elections
? respondents? awareness of how the members of the European Parliament are
elected
? probability of voting in the European elections in 2014
? reasons behind their expected level of participation in the 2014 European
elections.
Please note: voting is compulsory for at least some elections in Belgium, Cyprus,
Luxembourg and Greece. The voting age is 18 for most of the elections in the EU Member
States and in Croatia, with the exception of Austria where the voting age is 16.