Youth Participation Index : Monitoring Report of Political, Social and Economic Participation of Youth 2023

Abstract

Creating space for youth participation is immensely important and recognised in many public policies, research studies, and official statements. And yet, states and municipalities often fail to establish such spaces. This is evident when many young people are out of education and quality jobs, and they remain absent in places of formal political decision-making. Still, they are present in statistics on poverty and social support. Sometimes, the lack of youth participation may be perceived as a result of their disengagement, lack of motivation, or interest. Thus, when young people do participate, sometimes through methods of participation such as protests and demonstrations, this may seem surprising. Their engagement implies that their scarce involvement cannot be attributed to their lack of motivation but to the shortcomings of adequate institutional support.Eight years ago, the Youth Hub for Western Balkans and Türkiye Network (YHWBT Network) developed the Youth Participation Index (YPI) to summarise data on barriers to youth participation and provide a concrete data-driven tool for policymakers and youth organisations to improve it. This Index aims to provide a comprehensive overview of opportunities for youth through the lens of 25 political, economic, and social participation indicators. The data in this Index does not refer to the outcome – how frequently and in which ways young people participate, but to inputs – political, economic, and social contexts that shape youth opportunities to do so. The eighth edition of this Index includes, for the first time, data from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, thus providing comprehensive information on youth participation in the region