Young Catalans are finding it increasingly difficult to emancipate themselves. Added to the problems of finding a job is that it has to provide much more income than a few years ago to be able to cope with the rising cost of living. And to that is added the difficulty of accessing housing, even for rent. The consequence: the emancipation rate of the population between 15 and 34 years old has fallen from 46% to 41% in ten years. Or put another way, 60% of young people up to 35 years old still live with their parents.
This is clear from the results of the Catalan Youth Survey 2022 presented yesterday by the Minister of Social Rights, Carles Campuzano, which shows that the most common situation for young Catalans is being a non-emancipated student, although there is also 31% who are “emancipated employed” and almost half of them live as a couple, without children.
Girls are emancipated more frequently and earlier, although it is less common for them to live alone: ??they usually do so as a couple or with children. And, according to the authors of the survey, gender stereotypes continue to determine the distribution of tasks in these young couples. Women are the ones who “always or almost always” do the most routine tasks: cooking (28% versus 16%), cleaning the house (24% versus 4%) or washing clothes (36% versus 9%), while that men are more in charge of procedures (26% versus 16%) and repairs (51% versus 4%). This is despite the fact that the differences have been attenuated compared to the 2012 survey.
From an educational point of view, the survey detects an increase in the proportion of young people who study, which has gone from 35% to 43% in the last ten years. Almost a quarter of these young people have university studies, and 65% have post-compulsory studies.
However, the possibilities of obtaining a degree are highly conditioned by the economic situation and social origin, because, if the x-ray of the youth of Catalonia that Minister Campuzano presented yesterday makes one thing clear, it is that it is a group with great inequalities in depending on social class, the origin of their parents or the region where they live.
28% of those between 15 and 34 years old were born abroad, and another 7.6% have one or two foreign parents, a circumstance that significantly multiplies their risk of poverty and poor health.
The councilor announced that he will take advantage of the meeting he will hold on the 4th with the Minister of Youth and Children, Sira Rego, to ask that Spain introduce a universal benefit for raising children, as exists in many other European countries.
The weight of the foreign population is also reflected in the use of languages ??by young people. The percentage of those who usually speak Catalan has fallen from 43.1% in 2007 to 25.1% in 2022, while that of those who speak Spanish has gone from 39.4% to 44.5%, and those who they speak other languages, from 1.7% to 14.4%. Furthermore, 14.1% of young people use their linguistic uses in Spanish; That is to say, they make Spanish their language of habitual use even if it is not their mother tongue, while only 9.8% speak Catalan. Campuzano assured that keeping the school in Catalan is key to increasing its social use.
The survey also warns about the mental health of young people: 84.2% have suffered anxiety and anguish in recent weeks.
