A study by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) indicates that the economic situation and unemployment are among the top concerns of young people in Latin America and the Caribbean, followed by corruption and political problems.

Young people are important agents of change. They are essential to advance sustainable and inclusive development in every region of the world, and they have an important role to play in achieving societal goals.

The European Union has introduced major initiatives directed at young people in Europe as well as in its external action.

In October 2022, the European Commission adopted the Youth Action Plan in EU External Action to promote meaningful youth participation and empowerment in EU external action for sustainable development, equality, and peace.

A new JRC study on Youth Perspectives in Latin America and the Caribbean supports the objectives of the Youth Action Plan, as well as the preparations for the third EU-CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Summit of Heads of State and Government in July 2023.

The findings of the report will be presented during the EU-Latin America and the Caribbean Forum: Partners in Change that will take place on 13-14 July 2023 in Brussels.

Based on a descriptive analysis of data from the Latinobarómetro public opinion survey, the report provides evidence of the main concerns and perspectives of young people in Latin America and the Caribbean on economic, political and social issues in their countries.

Main concerns of young people in Latin America and the Caribbean region

The study shows that young people in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are mostly concerned about problems of economic nature.

About half of the young respondents (45 %) cited problems related to the economy as their most important concern. This is more than for all other categories combined: problems related to politics (20 %), problems related to social issues (10%), problems related to security (8 %) and problems related to infrastructure as their top concerns (less than 1 %).

‘Economy’ is also the issue that young people in the LAC region most frequently cited as the most important problem that their country is facing (19 % of young respondents), followed by ‘Unemployment’ (11 %).

The third and fourth most salient concerns are ‘Corruption’ and ‘Political problems’, accounting together for 20% of responses.

Environmental protection and climate action

Environmental problems are not among the top ranked concerns of the youth population in the region.

Yet, a significant amount of youth in Chile (74 %), Paraguay and Brazil (75 %) believe that environmental protection is not guaranteed in their country and demonstrate a significant willingness to step up action.  

In Costa Rica, a relatively high share of the respondents are willing to protest against climate change (40 %), despite a low concern about environmental protection in general (26 %).

Social cohesion and inequalities

A large share of young people in the LAC region consider income distribution (75 %), access to justice (74 %), healthcare (60 %) and education (53 %) as either unfair or very unfair.

However, there are big differences between and within countries. For instance, in Chile 96 % of the young people consider income distribution as either unfair or very unfair, while in El Salvador the share is half (46 %).

At the regional level, three in four young people think that access to justice is unfair. In Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela the share of youth considering access to justice unfair is the highest in the region – above 85 %. In Costa Rica and Nicaragua, the share is significantly lower, but still above 50 %.

The highest share of respondents who indicate they face challenges in terms of access to education and health services are in Chile and Paraguay.

Youth in the LAC region consider that poor, indigenous and native people, homosexuals, black people or of African descent, and immigrants are the most discriminated. More than half (52 %) of young people in the region think that gender equality is not guaranteed.

Democracy, governance and participation

Just under half of the youth in the LAC region view democracy as preferable to other kinds of government and feel that their freedom for political participation is guaranteed in their country.

Among the youth population, support for democracy and the perception of freedom of participation increases considerably with higher levels of education.

The extent to which countries exhibit characteristics of liberal democracy and provide political and civil rights tends to be reflected in stronger support for democracy and a more positive view on the guarantee of freedom of political participation.

Young people have little trust in the responsiveness of the government on the local level. Less than a third think that it is likely that their local authority would respond if they reported a problem.

Attitude towards the European Union

The majority of young people in the LAC region have a favourable opinion about the EU and consider their country to have good relations with the EU. Young people are slightly more positive about the EU than the adult population above age 30.

In particular, young people with medium and high levels of education living in larger cities hold a favourable opinion about the EU, but have a more critical view of the relationship between their country and the EU.