What do young people dream about?

Where is the world heading? The most extensive study of the youth’s lifestyle and judgment conducted so far has been done by Zapera for Kairos Future, a thinking media and strategy consultancy focusing on future studies. The study covers 17 countries in different parts of the world.

The data collection has been conducted from Zapera’s own panels in Scandinavia, The Baltic and Poland and from partners in the rest of Europe, North America and Asia.

Optimism or pessimism?
The opinions in the global youth study are significantly different in different countries and parts of the world. The opposites in Europe are the French youth which is very pessimistic and sees the globalization as a threat while the Danish youth sees it as an exciting opportunity. They are also very nationalistic and have a positive view on the future. The youth in Poland is the least positive towards their own country, while the youth in most other countries sees their own country as their favorite.
The Japanese are also real doomsayers and are the far most pessimistic. The American youth is, besides the Indians, the only ones who are distinctly religious.

Flooded with academics?
You can really start wondering about this, because a great deal of the youth is planning to take higher educations. The focus on higher education is distinctively strong in Eastern Europe, China and Taiwan, but the tendency is also strong in Germany. The Finns, French and Japanese are the least ambitious when it comes to higher education.

Subsequently the question is how many actually fulfill their dreams about studies at a higher level. A lot more countries are now staking on higher education. Taiwan has hundreds of universities and it is difficult for them to fill up all the seats. A lot is speaking in favor of that the same expansion of higher education will also happen in China. We are rapidly moving towards a global knowledge economy.

Do good looks give you better career chances?
No, says the French and Danish youth. On the contrary the Chinese, Indian, Estonian, Polish and Russian youth says: Yes, absolutely. Also the young Japanese agree on that it is important to have good looks in order to make a career. The study shows that there are great differences in the attitudes towards work and life in different parts of the world.
In general the youth has big expectations but their future employers must be prepared for that the young people entering the labour market now have a changed attitude.

Source: Zapera News, Issue 25, February 2007