Share of youth in Slovenia decreasing but their voice remains loud

International Youth Day is a great opportunity to commit to efforts to create an environment where young people can develop their potentials, build solid friendships and actively participate in society, said youth NGO Nefiks.

Youth centres as a great opportunity

An important resource for young people are youth centres. They encourage youth volunteer work and active citizenship and train young volunteers. In Slovenia 56 such centres are joined in the youth network MaMa.

According to newest studies, youth volunteer work will be more important in the future as more and more young people face psychological issues. A survey by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung foundation showed that young Slovenians are increasingly stressed and pessimistic about their future and the future of Slovenian society.

Young people would be more drawn to youth centres if they offered more activities and if their friends also frequented them, shows a survey by NGOs Nefiks and Mreža KEKS. More than half of those who already go to youth centres said they learned about them from friends or posters.

Nefiks's survey showed that young people spend most of their free time with friends. Quality time with friends can have positive effects on mental health and social skills, friends also offer support and a sense of belonging.

Housing is youth's biggest challenge

The Youth Council of Slovenia, an umbrella of youth organisations, stressed the importance of young people being included in decision-making and policy co-creation.

The council also believes the government has not delivered on the commitments and promises it made to young people. They were supposed to be a budget priority in 2024 and 2025 but that is not evident in any of the areas related to youth, the council said already in spring.

It said that housing poses the largest problem for young people as real estate prices went up by more than 90% from 2015 to 2022, while wages grew at a significantly lower rate.

Last year 60.4% of Slovenians aged 18 to 34 were living with their parents, while the EU average was 49.6%. Slovenians were also among the worst performers when it comes to the age at which young people leave their parents' home. At 29.1, Slovenia's average age was lower than that in only six member states. The highest average was in Croatia at 31.8 years, the lowest in Finland at 21.4 years.

Slovenian youth fewer in numbers but have good education indicators

The latest statistics on young people in Slovenia confirm a sharp drop in the share of 15- to 29-year-olds in the last decades. The young make up 15% of the population, which compares to 22.5% in 1991 and puts Slovenia one percentage point below the EU average in 2023, show data by the Statistics Office.

Among EU member states, the share of young people was highest in Cyprus last year and lowest in Bulgaria. Only Bulgaria and Latvia had fewer young people than Slovenia.

Slovenia on the other hand stands out in positive terms when it comes to the share of 20- to 24-year-olds in tertiary education, the figure being 47%. Only Greece had a higher share, at over 52%.

Slovenia also performed well on other education indicators. Last year, only 7.8% of 15- to 29-year-olds were neither employed nor in education or training. Lower shares were recorded only in Malta, Sweden and the Netherlands.

Slovenia also ranks among the EU member states with the lowest rates of school dropouts. This indicator measures the share of 18 to 24-year-olds with no more than basic education who are not in further education. Last year, Slovenia's 5.4% rate placed it fifth. Croatia had the lowest rate, while Romania had the highest.

Meanwhile, the average monthly net wage of 15 to 24-year-olds in Slovenia was 27.9% lower than the average wage of all employees in October last year. The employment rate among this group was 32.6% last year, 2.6 percentage points below the EU average. The highest rate was recorded in the Netherlands, the lowest in Greece.

Slovenia's youth unemployment rate, at 9.9%, was 4.6 percentage points below the EU average.