ZAGREB, March 5, 2019 – Young people in Croatia are especially unhappy with their status in Croatian society and occurrences in modern society while on the other hand they are satisfied with their personal environment, show the results of a survey conducted by the Friedrich Ebert Stifung Foundation (FES) and the Institute for Social Research (IDIZ) that were presented on Tuesday in Zagreb.
The empirical survey of the youth in Croatia was conducted in 2018 on a sample of 1,500 respondents aged between 14 and 29 while an international survey was conducted in ten countries in Southeast Europe and Western Balkans – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Romania, Slovenia and Serbia.
The youth were questioned about private aspects of their lives – family, friends, leisure time, education, employment, personal, social and political values and about mobility.
The first survey of this kind in Croatia was conducted in 2012 and Vlasta Ilišin from IDIZ said that the results of the latest survey hasn’t changed that much over time.
“Some values are accepted more than before, some less – religiousness among young people has increased however it is not at the highest level in the period that the surveys were conducted in. On the other hand, exclusion has decreased toward people of different sexual orientation,” Ilišin said and added that contradictory notions are emerging from modern changes to those showing a revival of traditionalism.
They are however exceptionally unsatisfied with their social status and process in contemporary society.
Compared to the other countries where the survey was conducted, young people in Croatia participate very little in sports activities. “Most young people in Croatia never participate in any sporting activities (40%) whereas in Slovenia only 2% gave said that,” Ilisin said.
She claims that it was interesting to compare young people in Croatia and those in other countries who consider it to be justified to use people they know to resolve problems or to help them find a job. The highest percentage of those approving that behaviour was in Croatia in fact.
The survey showed that less than half the youth in Croatia are employed in their vocation and that half of them do not have a secure or permanent job and on average they work more than the regulated hours whereas they are paid less than the average pay in Croatia.
More than one-quarter of them live with their parents or other relatives whereas one in five are married or in a de facto relationship and 71% of them also live in their parents’ home, 15% live in their own accommodation or their partner’s and 13% live in rentals. The survey also showed that young people still have faith in marriage and four-fifths consider marrying and having children sometime in the future.
Very few showed any interest or knowledge of politics. The results show dissatisfaction with the development of civic political culture among young people.
The survey also showed that overall, young people show more distrust than trust in institutions with 66% showing distrust in political parties, and more than half showing their distrust of the parliament and government.
Almost two-thirds said they did not wish to emigrate from Croatia while one-third said they wish to leave. This is an increase of 20% from 2012 of those who wish to remain in Croatia.
More news about Croatian politics can be found in the dedicated section.
