Ukraine's young people in the focus of sociology

An analytical report of the Institute of Sociology of the NAS of Ukraine, «Ukraine's young people in the focus of sociology»

On the basis of the sociological monitoring survey of the Institute of Sociology of the NAS of Ukraine «Ukrainian Society», S. Dembitskyi, Doctor of Sociological Sciences, has prepared the analytical report «Ukraine's young people in the focus of sociology», which contains 10 sections.

The report was prepared for Youth Day at the request of the Bohdan Hawrylyshyn Family Foundation within the civic engagement programme «Join in!», funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by Pact in Ukraine. The content of the analytical report is the sole responsibility of Pact and its partners and does not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States government.

The section «Ideological identification» states that between 50% and 60% of respondents in all age categories counted themselves adherents of a particular ideology. For young people aged 18 to 24 this share is even higher – 61.6%, which allows us to speak of heightened ideological activity among the young. Respondents with right-wing ideological views –

 national democrats or nationalists (together between 28% and 36%) predominate. Left-wing views are shared by about 18%. Self-identification with a nationalist ideology rose sharply in all age groups after the full-scale invasion, especially among young people – in places by a factor of four or more. In practically all age groups there is a firm conviction that they can freely express their political views (most of all among young people aged 18–24 – almost 70%).

As for the availability of leaders capable of governing the country effectively, the number of optimists (more than 40%) exceeds the number of pessimists (no more than 21%). And again young people give the fewest pessimists (up to 13%) and the most optimists (48.1%). Parties and movements, however, still have much work to do to win greater public trust. The share of respondents who have not decided whether power can be entrusted to parties and movements noticeably exceeds (40–50%) both the optimists (24–31%) and the pessimists (22–24%).

Assessments of the economic situation are gradually rising, most of all among young people – 22.3%. The assessment of attitudes towards the state was made using the sociological test «GSR-5», developed at the Institute of Sociology of the NAS of Ukraine, which consists of 5 indicators. Despite restrained assessments of the state's effectiveness, of living conditions, of achievements and so on, an absolute majority in all groups share an optimistic vision of Ukraine's future (62–71%). The indicators of civic identity, which have been rising steadily, reached their equilibrium maximum in 2023.

 The report thus records that Ukraine's young people are politically and ideologically active, patriotic and optimistic, that they believe in a better future for Ukraine and are ready to fight for it and to build it.

Read the full version of the study at the link: https://bit.ly/47watKo