Global Youth 2013

How do young people in different parts of the world look upon life, work, society, consumption and media? What are their dreams, where are they heading? In their latest study - based on 6500 interviews with young people between the ages 16-29 in Sweden, England, Spain, Turkey, USA, Australia, Russia, Brasil, India, China and South Africa - Kairos Future has examined young people's experiences of growing up in an age of T - Turbulence, Transparency and Talent war. It is impossible to ignore the roars of the young around the world, as unemployment rates spin out of control and economical, environmental and political crises deepen. According to the ILO, an estimated 73.4 million young people worldwide (12.6%) are expected to be out of work in 2013. In Kairos Future’s new survey on the Global Youth, 6500 young voices between 16-29 in eleven countries seem to agree on one point: in order to have a future we need a common goal. And today that goal is not to be seen anywhere. The discontent among young people around the world cannot be mistaken. In all surveyed countries except Sweden and Russia, the youth is convinced that most people in their generation will be worse off than their parents. A majority also states that society has become too individualistic, and that it is politics that is to blame. Instead all their dreams and aspirations are focused on another arena - the personal one. The small, close collective: the family. And when it comes to family young people are anything but short-sighted. They want relations that are so strong they will hold a lifetime. According to them, the achievements that are most worthy of respect are not making lots of money or saving the world, but being a good parent and keeping a family together for years. The small dreams about settling down seem to be the dreams the young can hold onto in turbulent and uncertain times.