The Youth Barometer's (Ungdomsbarometern) Generation Report 2025 has been released, based on surveys among Swedish youth between 15 and 24 years old.
Personal finance and success are top priorities
The economy is being prioritized to a greater extent, and young people believe that reducing unemployment is one of the most important issues right now. Young people's concern about the economy has seen a significant increase of 7 percentage points to 44%, and more and more young people want to earn money and become successful. Becoming an entrepreneur is high on the list, and simply becoming a manager or CEO is more popular.
Ulrik Hoffman, CEO of the Youth Barometer says:
"Young people have a strong drive to secure their economic future, and we see a growing stress related to personal finance and job prospects. This is driven by high youth unemployment and rising prices, but also social media, where the constant exposure to others' success stories and extravagant lifestyles creates pressure to succeed quickly,"
Traditional gender roles
There is a return to conservative values and more stereotypical gender roles, with 9 out of 10 believing that relationships should lead to a life partner, an increase of 14 percentage points over 2 years. The proportion of boys who want to pay for the first date has also risen to 55% over 7 years. More and more girls also want to be perceived as feminine, which is a doubling compared to 10 years ago. The trend of boys wanting to be the ones to propose has increased to 65% and 74% of the girls wants their partner to propose.
Idealism is waning
The proportion of those who call themselves feminists has also decreased significantly from 32% to 18% over 4 years. Environmentalism is also on the decline.
Ulrik Hoffman. says
"Young people are still engaged, but we see a shift from idealism to a more skeptical attitude. The focus is more on their own future and less on defining themselves through political identities. At the same time, we see that many young people are seeking stability and expressing more traditional values in several areas,"
Follow this link to read and download the report.
