What parties promise young people

Youth is a traditionally rather mistreated subject by politics. Just think of the composition of Italian public spending: 15.7% of GDP goes to pensions, the second country in the world after Greece, while 4.3% to schools, the third last figure for the European Union. Or just think of the public debt, which at the end of 2021 was 150.8% of GDP, the third highest figure among the OECD countries after Japan and Greece. Or, again, just think of school policies during the pandemic: Italy was the European country that has kept schools closed for the longest time, betting on distance learning, with often mixed results.

Yet the data on young people are not so comforting as to justify such inattention. Just name a few. In 2021, youth unemployment in Italy was over 30%. This indicates that out of 10 young people under the age of 25 who may be working and are actively looking for a job, more than 3 are unable to. According to data from Eurostat - the main European statistical agency - in 2021 in Italy 23.1% of young people between the ages of 15 and 29 do not work or study. This is clearly the highest figure in the European Union, with Romania in second place at 20.3%.