EU youth report 2009

This is the first time that the Commission is publishing a report on Youth in the European Union. It is a first effort to compile data and statistics in order to give a picture of the situation of young people in Europe. This report was requested by the Council of the European Union and constitutes one of the supporting documents of the Commission’s Communication for the new youth cooperation framework, entitled “An EU Strategy for Youth: Investing and Empowering”. The objective of this first youth report is twofold. First, it is to support the new youth cooperation framework by collecting much of the available statistics and data on the conditions of young people. Second, any effort to address young people’s challenges and improve their situation must be evidence-based. The report “European Research on Youth” with results of youth-related projects funded under consecutive Commission research framework programmes from 1996 to now, as well as a forthcoming Eurostat publication with data and statistics on the situation of young people, will provide additional information. By making accessible evidence and knowledge on the situation of young people in Europe, this report also gives some indications for where there is a lack of research and data on youth and possible venues for future improvement. By elaborating this first European report on youth, the ambition of the Commission is to contribute to better integrated youth policies. This dynamic is also valid at the national level where ongoing knowledge production can also improve conditions for developing youth policy.