Social Gap in the EU: Children and Youth Defeated by the Crisis, Croatia at the Bottom

Children and youth are the biggest losers in the European economic and debt crisis. In the EU, 26 million children and young people are threatened by poverty and social exclusion. This represents 27.9 percent of all those under 18 years of age. A poor future perspective also affects 5.4 million young people who are neither employed nor in education.

In Europe, the gap in social justice is particularly evident between the north and south, as well as between the young and the old. This is the result of the social justice index through which the Bertelsmann Stiftung annually investigates how social justice is developing in 28 EU member states. In this index, Croatia ranks 22nd.

5.4 million young people are neither employed nor in education.

Only in Spain, Greece, Italy, and Portugal has the number of children and young people threatened by poverty or social exclusion increased by 1.2 million since 2007, from 6.4 to 7.6 million. They live in households with less than 60 percent of the median income, suffer from severe material deprivation, or grow up in households where there are almost no employed individuals.

Even in the age group of 20 to 24 years, many EU citizens find themselves in an uncertain situation. Among them, 5.4 million people (17.8 percent) are neither employed nor in education. In 25 EU member states, their number has significantly increased since 2008, and in recent years, only in Germany and Sweden has the outlook for this age group improved. The most negative developments have been recorded in southern European countries: in Spain, the share of people aged between 20 and 24 who are neither employed nor in education increased from 16.6 percent to 24.8 percent, and in Italy from 21.6 percent to as much as 32 percent.

The gap between generations is increasing.

Long-term, the intergenerational gap is also growing across Europe. While the share of children threatened by poverty and social exclusion in the EU average has increased from 26.4 percent to 27.9 percent since 2007, the corresponding share of the population aged 65 and older has decreased from 24.4 percent to 17.8 percent. The main reason: during the crisis, pensions and retirement benefits for older individuals did not decrease as much as the income of the younger population.

Through three developmental trends across Europe, the opposite development between the young and the old is also intensified: the rising indebtedness of public households primarily burdens younger generations; future investments in education or research and development are stagnating, and aging societies increase pressure on the financing capacity of social security systems. The debt of EU countries has increased from an average of 63 percent of their economic output in 2008 to 88 percent.

Aart De Geus, CEO of Bertelsmann Stiftung, warned of additional consequences: “We cannot afford to lose a generation in Europe, neither socially nor economically. The EU and its member states must make special efforts to permanently improve the opportunities for young people.” He recalled the already existing EU guarantee and initiative for youth employment. These meaningful initiatives should be consistently implemented in member states, and the necessary financial resources should be secured for them. Although small improvements in labor market development can again be seen in many EU countries, a comprehensive change in the trend in the area of social justice after years of declining development cannot yet be spoken of.

Croatia faces enormous problems in the labor market.

Ranked 22nd, Croatia still achieves only a low placement in the overall social justice index – despite a slight improvement compared to the previous year. Special problems exist in the labor market. In 2014, only 54.6 percent of working-age Croatians were employed – the second worst rate in the EU. Even the long-term unemployment rate of 5.3 percent in 2008 nearly doubled to 10.1 percent.

The social situation of children and youth in Croatia is uncertain (16th place). The country has one of the lowest dropout rates in the EU (2.7 percent in 2014). However, there is a significant mismatch between qualifications acquired in the education system and those demanded in the labor market. Therefore, almost every second Croatian (45.5 percent) aged between 15 and 24 was unemployed in 2014. Similarly, the share of people aged between 20 and 24 who are neither employed nor in education nearly doubled from 13.7 percent in 2008 to 26.1 percent in 2014. The Strategy for Education, Science, and Technology adopted in 2014 appears to be the first approach to reform that holds much promise.