Priorities of young people in Romania

Young Romanians’ priorities are work, housing and access to education. Their departure abroad is still their desire.

Roxana Vasile, 14.08.2024, 14:00

Each year on August 12, the world celebrates International Youth Day, which is an opportunity to celebrate the potential of young people as partners in society, and to bring to the attention of the community the problems they are facing. In Romania, at the behest of the Ministry of Family, Youth and Equal Opportunities, the Center for Urban and Regional Sociology (CURS) conducted an opinion barometer regarding the situation of youth and their expectations. Here are some of the research findings.

Young Romanians want to be supported in relation to the labor market, housing and access to education, and also in relation to career guidance and counseling. For them, high incomes and job security are the most important aspects, probably, sociologists think, also because of the uncertainties marking the current economic context.

However, according to CURS, access to a job still remains the main obstacle in the way of the young people’s independence. As to the quality of life, the current situation is considered by young people as problematic, a consideration probably caused by the wider context marked by the pandemic, war and inflation.

There is a causal link between the workplace and income, on the one hand, and housing and starting a family, on the other. That is why, according to the barometer, the lack of job stability and the difficult access to housing are major obstacles for young people to start a family. Although dissatisfied with the way school prepares them for life, young people recognize the essential contribution of education to success in life. Regarding civic participation, they feel to a large extent that their power to influence public decisions is low, hence the low interest in getting involved in the life of society.

In terms of mobility and emigration, the barometer reveals that going abroad is still a desire for many young people in Romania. The country has trained, quality young people who must dare and be determined to achieve their goals, says the Minister of Youth and Family, Natalia Intotero adding that quote: ”it is very important to dare and this is my message to each and every young person in this country. As a young person, when you dare, you are determined and you pursue your dream with a lot of work, it can come true”, minister Natalia Intotero encourages young people, whom she assures that their voices are heard.

At the same time, the official introduced Romania’s youth representatives for the period 2024-2025 at the United Nations Organization: Alexian-Arthur Stark and Patricia-Alexandra Nae. The UN Youth Delegate Program was inaugurated in Romania in 2006 and is coordinated by the Ministry of Family, Youth and Equal Opportunities and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (LS)