2024-09-26 05:36:24
Youth Finance Monitor
A whole generation in fear of poverty
Updated on 25.09.2024 – 10:26Reading time: 4 min.
Young people in Germany are pessimistic about their financial future. The current Youth Finance Monitor reveals worrying developments.
The time between 16 and 25 is a formative phase in the lives of young people. Leaving school, starting an apprenticeship, getting your first student apartment or working and traveling abroad. During this time, it is important to enjoy freedom, find yourself and discover the world with all its possibilities. But anyone who thinks that young people enjoy their carefree lives in which money plays no role is wrong.
The Schufa youth finance monitor, which t-online has exclusively obtained in advance, shows that money plays an important role and has a major influence on the living conditions, attitudes and personal feelings of young people. For the study, 1,002 adolescents and young adults were questioned about their financial situation, financial behavior and future expectations, as were 505 adults of the parent generation. The results show a worrying development.
The past years of crisis have left their mark on many teenagers and young adults: more than a quarter of those surveyed feel compelled to reduce their spending. Many families are also experiencing financial difficulties. In addition, looking into the future triggers great fear in many young people.
The results of the current Youth Finance Monitor show: Never before – since the survey began – have young people been as pessimistic about their financial future as they are today.
The proportion of 16- to 25-year-olds who believe they achieve the same or higher standard of living as their parents has fallen to its lowest level since the first survey in 2018. Compared to the previous year, this proportion fell by nine percentage points and is now only 49 percent.
This pessimistic view of the future is certainly also related to the many past and current crises.
Dr. Ole Schröder
A worrying trend is emerging when looking at old age: only 55 percent of teenagers and young adults believe that their salary will be enough to provide for retirement. This is the lowest value in all previous surveys.
“This pessimistic view of the future is certainly also related to the many past and current crises,” says Dr. Ole Schröder, CEO of Schufa Holding AG. “The past few years have demanded a lot from people in Germany, especially teenagers and young adults.”
For the first time, the Youth Finance Monitor also asked what concerns young people most at the moment. The top concern among 16 to 25-year-olds is concern about social cohesion in Germany (80 percent).
The second most common concern among adolescents and young adults is that democracy in Germany is at risk (74 percent). Closely followed by concerns that the costs of dealing with the current crises will be passed on to future generations (72 percent) and that the gap between rich and poor will widen (70 percent).
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Teenagers and young adults are also concerned about climate change. 70 percent of those surveyed fear that climate change could destroy the livelihoods of people in Germany. Geopolitical crises make 39 percent of those surveyed worry that Germany could become directly involved in acts of war.
“The concerns of young people differ little from those of the parents’ generation, whom we also interviewed as part of the study,” continues Ole Schröder. “This is not surprising, because both generations have experienced and weathered the crises of recent years together.”
Inflation in recent years in particular has put a heavy strain on the budgets of many young people. More than a quarter of 16 to 25-year-olds say that they can currently afford less than they could a year ago. Overall, the financial situation for a slightly larger proportion of this age group has worsened (28 percent) rather than improved (21 percent).
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