YOUTH 2020 - The position of young people in Slovenia

  9 Europe’s demographic picture is changing. It is dominated by the elderly, while the number of young people has in recent times been declining significantly. Slovenia is no exception. In the past 30 years, the number of young people has fallen by 30 percent. This data alone clearly shows the vulnerability of young people, who are already facing many chal- lenges projected for the future. This makes it all the more important to know who young people are in Slovenia, what young Slovenians are like and, based on that, create public policies that will enable young people to grow into independent, creative and socially responsible individuals. Important steps towards formulating policies that address the needs of young people include determining their actual position in society at var- ious levels and acquiring professional groundwork, on which the condi- tion of youth can be monitored in depth and over a long period. Such an approach enables systematic monitoring of the social position of young people and, consequently, an integrated approach in the development of youth policies and in the implementation of activities carried out for young people by the youth sector. The formulation and implementation of modern policies is evidence-based and the field of youth is not and should not be an exception. Due to the above, the Office of the Republic of Slovenia for Youth deter- mined more than a decade ago that a comprehensive study on young people in Slovenia would be central to this effort. After the years 2000 and 2010, we have now acquired a new important study, Mladina 2020 (Youth 2020) . Researchers from the University of Maribor and the University of Ljublja- na carried out the Mladina 2020 (Youth 2020) study, which we eagerly awaited, in unprecedented circumstances and on the basis of previous comprehensive studies Mladina 2000 (Youth 2020) and Mladina 2010 (Youth 2020) . On one hand, it is about obtaining new data and analyses that will serve as a basis for the creation of future policies. On the other hand, it is about looking at the past and finding out, with which previ- ously implemented measures, based on previous studies, we actually helped improve young people’s situation and how successful we have been in this.