According to a report by the SM Foundation, young Ibero-Americans are turning to education and family to face the present, in the midst of an uncertain future following the pandemic.
Youth in Ibero-America 2021 makes a comparative study of how young people are, think and behave in nine countries, through 13,500 interviews conducted in 2019 and 2020 in Mexico, Peru, Dominican Republic, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia and Spain.
The SM Foundation aims to summarize some of the youth trends, identifying behaviourstheir political and social opinionstheir opinions on important issues, their use of free time and how they see religion.
The study concludes that family and education play a key role in the present of young Ibero-Americans, “like the main benchmarks for understanding the world and facing life“.
” Over 90% of young peoplefamily and education are vital priorities when it comes to shaping their ideas and interpretations of the world,” explain the authors, who also highlight “health” and “the environment” as topics of discussion. of major interest and concern.
Religion and politicson the other hand, are the two questions that mark lowest on average in terms of importsthis.
According to the report, among young people religion plays a “more diminished” role than in other sectors of the population, and in some countries it is even “in a clear dissolution process“.
Spain, Chile, Argentina and Mexico have increasingly low numbers of religious practice, and in some of these countries more than half of young people identify as atheists or agnostics.
The the exception is Brazilwhere religion still holds an important place for young people.
“Generally, Young Ibero-Americans brought up in the Christian faithespecially those from Argentina and Chile, and with the exception of those from Brazil, are those who in greater proportion have ceased to be Christians into adulthood, particularly affecting Catholics (Pew Research Center, 11/13/2014),” the report said.
The authors highlight “the strong growth of atheismwhich exceeds 60% in Spain, reaches 40% in Chile and 35% in Argentina and Mexico”.
However, this lack of religiosity does not always mean atheism, because the option of “I have no religion, but I believe in God” exceeds 10% in several countries (Colombia, Dominican Republic and above all Chile, with almost 20% young people).
The two main religions are Protestant/Evangelical and Catholic.
young ibero-americans define themselves as “rebelas the primary trait. Other relevant traits are the importance of personal image care, consumption and leisure.
Among the preferred leisure options, the most popular are those that take place in private spaces and audiovisual media, such as music, series, films, video games or interactions through social networks.
“The most common activities for the majority are listening music (59%), watching TV (56%), meeting friends (48%) and watching series (40%)“, says the report.
Young people “do not feel listened to by politicians, distrust institutions and are particularly critical of the quality of democracy in their own country”.
Respondents are also criticize the way migrants are treated in their country, prefer to live in diverse societies and say they are ready to migrate in the futurere in order to prosper.
“In Brazil, the Dominican Republic and Ecuador, the main reason for moving is the lack of job opportunities and the search for them abroad”, while “in Chile, Colombia and Spain , the main reason is the search for better living conditions”.
You can read the full report here (in Spanish),
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– Ibero-American youth: Familial, educated and less religious
