Evidence-based policy-making
EU Youth policy should be evidence-based and anchored in the real needs and situations of young people. That requires continuous research as well as outreach to young people and youth organisations.
Statistics, indicators and data collection sources
The European Commission gathers and analyses data on young people and so do other organisations like the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and national authorities:
- A dashboard of 41 indicators covering all areas of the EU Youth Strategy developed and maintained by an expert group;
- Statistics provided by the European Statistics Office (Eurostat), with an open database containing the latest available data;
- The Eurostat database contains data from the EU Labour Force Survey and the EU Survey on Income and Living Conditions
- Public opinion surveys, including Youth and Democracy (2024),
- The European Commission studies or reports on youth policy, namely the Report on the Interim Evaluation of the EU Youth Strategy 2019-2027 and the related Infographic;
- The Youth Wiki, Europe’s online encyclopaedia in the area of national youth policies;
- The youth partnership between the European Union and the Council of Europe manages research activities from the European Knowledge Centre for Youth Policy (EKCYP) and from The Pool of European Youth Researchers (PEYR);
- Analysis of the youth chapter under the Erasmus+ programme;
- Consultation processes such as the EU Youth Dialogue, EU Have your say and Citizens’ dialogue.
Examples of toolkits prepared by youth organisations:
- Measuring Impact of Youth Organisations, an initiative with the World Organisation of Scout Movement (WOSM), YMCA Europe and Maynooth University (Ireland)