International Youth Day

For 19 years 12 August has been the day dedicated to young people all over the world. This year's theme of the International Youth Day, which is intended to draw young people's attention to their position in society, will be "Safe spaces for youth".

Vital statistics

At the end of 2017 there were more than 312,000 young people (15–29 years) in Slovenia, which was 15.1% of total Slovenian population or 22.8% less than ten years ago. Among young people there were slihgtly more men than women. The most common names among young people were Luka and Anja.

In 2017, 7.0% of young people were married. According to the latest available data from 2015, 4.9% lived in consensual union, of whom three quarters had children.

Among people who died in 2016, 145 (111 men and 34 women) were aged 15–29 years. The most common causes of death among young people were accidents and suicides.

On the labour market

In 2017, 162,000 young people (or 16.9% of all persons in employment) were employed and the employment rate was 51.1%. The employment rate was higher among men (55.1%) than women (46.8%).

As regards young people (aged 15–29) in employment in Slovenia, 48.6% were permanently and 27.1% temporarily employed. The remaining 24.3% of young people in employment performed other forms of temporary work: 22% of them worked via a student employment office and the rest were employed through other forms of work. 

Among 8,000 of self-employed young people there were 20.3% of them without any employees working mainly for one client, 32,000 student workers, 5,000 other agency workers and 3,000 employees in formal labour relation working part-time because they could not find a full-time job.

Residence

The share of young people living in the parental household in Slovenia in 2016 was 79.3%, which was more than the EU average (65.7%). The average age at leaving the parental household was 28.2 years (EU 26.1 years). Women (27.1 years) leaving parental household were on average younger than men (29.2 years).

Earnings

In 2016, the average monthly gross earnings of young people (15–24 years) amounted to more than EUR 1,100, which was 34.1% less than the average monthly gross earnings of all persons in employment in Slovenia (around EUR 1,700). At the monthly level young men earned on average more than young women.

Level of living

In 2017, the at-risk-of-poverty rate of young people was 12.3%, which was 1 p.p. less than the overall at-risk-of-poverty rate in Slovenia and 2.3 p.p. less than the rate for young people in the previous year. In ten years, the at-risk-of-poverty rate for young people increased by 3.2 p.p. The at-risk-of-poverty rate by accommodation tenure status of young people was lower than the Slovenian average. Among young people who were tenants it was 31.7% (the average in Slovenia was 32.9%) and among owners or those living rent-free 9.6% (the average in Slovenia was 11.1 %).

In 2016, the at-risk-of-poverty rate among young people in the EU was 21.6%. It was the highest in Romania (31.1%) and the lowest in the Czech Republic (10.0%).

Young people are generally satisfied with their lives

In 2017, the young people (16–29 years) were generally satisfied with their lives taken as a whole, i.e. young people’s average assessment of overall life satisfaction was 7.9 (on the scale from 0 to 10); the average self-assessment of overall life satisfaction was higher in young women (8.0) than young men (7.8). Overall self-assessment of satisfaction with the lives of young people has increased by 0.3 in the last five years.

As regards accessibility of various goods, young people are satisfied. The accessibility of various goods for young people was also good. In 2017, most young people (96%) got together at least once a month with friends or relatives for a drink or a meal. Also, 93% of young people spent almost every week a small amount of money for themselves (for coffee, cinema, magazines, ice cream, etc.). In their free time, 69% of young people regularly attended the activities that needed to be paid (for example visits to concerts, sports events, recreation, etc.).