Proposal for an updated dashboard of EU youth indicators : support services to Expert Groups and mutual learning activities in the field of youth policy (June 2020-December 2021) : final report.
Date: 2021-05-21
Institutions: Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture
Subjects: EU programme, education policy, marginalisation, non-formal education, personal development, social indicator, social participation, sociocultural facilities, vocational training, young person, young worker, youth employment, youth policy, youth unemployment

Proposal for an updated dashboard of 
EU Youth indicators 

Final report  

Support services to Expert 
Groups and mutual learning 
activities in the field of youth 
policy (June 2020-December 
2021) 

(EAC/02/2019) 

 
    
 
 
 
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EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Proposal for an updated 
dashboard of EU Youth 
indicators 

Final report  

Support services to Expert Groups and mutual 
learning activities in the field of youth policy (June 
2020-December 2021) 

(EAC/02/2019) 

 EU Expert Group on EU Indicators in the field of youth. Author: 
Sladjana Petkovic 

2021 

Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture 
Youth, Volunteer Solidarity and Traineeship Office 

EN 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture 
Directorate B - Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture 
Unit B.3 - Youth, Volunteer Solidarity and Traineeships Office 

Contact:  Jacob Kornbeck, Policy Officer  

E-mail:  jacob.kornbeck@ec.europa.eu 

European Commission 
B-1049 Brussels 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Table of Contents 

Table of Contents ........................................................................................ 5 

1.  Introduction ......................................................................................... 7 

1.1 

Indicative roadmap and methodology ................................................... 8 

2.  Structure and relevance of the revised Dashboard ............................. 10 

3.  Situation Dashboard ........................................................................... 12 

3.1  Contextual indicators ....................................................................... 12 
3.2  Situation Indicators ......................................................................... 12 
3.2.1  Engage .......................................................................................... 12 
3.2.2  Connect ......................................................................................... 15 
3.2.3  Empower ........................................................................................ 16 

4.  Policy Dashboard ................................................................................ 24 

5 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Acknowledgements 

This research was commissioned by the Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and 
Culture (DG EAC) of the European Commission and undertaken by Ecorys.  

The research was led by Sladjana Petkovic, Researcher and European youth expert, and the 
Expert Group on Youth Indicators.  

We would like to thank Paul Dowling and Milda Butkute from Ecorys, and Cecile McGrath, 
formerly of Ecorys, for their support to the Expert Group in carrying out its work.    

6 

 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
 
 
 
 
1.  Introduction 

This report proposes a revised structure and content for the Dashboard of EU Youth 
Indicators which will feed into the development of the EU’s Youth Strategy.   

Knowledge and evidence-building are placed at the core of European youth policy in the ‘EU 
Strategy Investing and Empowering: A renewed open method of coordination to address 
youth challenges and opportunities’1 and the Council’s ‘Resolution on a renewed framework 
for European cooperation in the youth field for 2010-2018 (2009).’2 These documents 
emphasise the role of knowledge of the living conditions, values and attitudes of young 
people with a view to sharing it with other policy fields.  

In order to facilitate knowledge gathering and an evidence-based approach to youth policy, 
the Council invited the Commission to set up an ad-hoc expert group on youth indicators in 
2010 which created the first Dashboard of EU youth indicators and presented it in the 
Commission Staff Working Document on EU Indicators in the Field of Youth3 (Annex I). In 
2019, the Expert Group on 'EU indicators in the field of youth' (EG)4 was established with 
the mandate to support the work of the European Commission’s Directorate General for 
Education, Youth, Sport and Culture (DG EAC) by delivering the following expected 
outcomes: 

  Outcome 1: Review of the existing Dashboard of EU indicators in the field of youth 

  Outcome 2: Proposals for new quantitative and qualitative policy indicators and 

benchmarks, as appropriate, tailored to the needs of Member States and sectors 
concerned, to help to monitor the implementation of the EU Youth Strategy (2019-
2027). 

This Expert Group was composed of 32 representatives of Member States’ authorities, 
international organisations and key stakeholders. Their suggestions summarised in this 
report will be presented to the Council’s Youth Working Party.    

The work of the Expert Group followed the Commission ’s proposal to build on the existing 
Dashboard of EU youth indicators and relied on a number of policy documents, including the 
Council Resolution on the EU Youth Strategy4F
out a framework for European cooperation in the youth field for 2019-2027, which in turn is 
based on the Commission’s Communication of 22 May 2018 on ‘Engaging, Connecting and 
Empowering young people’.5F
interim evaluation of the EU Youth Strategy (2010-2018)6F

6 The revision of the Dashboard echoes the findings of the 

5 (and its Work Plan 2019-2021), which sets 

7, which stressed the need for a 

1 EUROPEAN COMMISSION (2009). An EU Strategy for Youth – Investing and Empowering 
A renewed open method of coordination to address youth challenges and opportunities, COM (2009) 200 final. 
Available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2009:0200:FIN:EN:PDF 
2 COUNCIL OF MINISTERS (2009). Council Resolution of 27 November 2009 on a renewed framework for European 
cooperation in the youth field (2010-2018), OJ C 311. Published December 19. Available at: https://eur-
lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32009G1219(01)&from=EN. 
3 EUROPEAN COMMISSION (2011). Commission Staff Working Document on EU indicators in the field of youth, SEC 
(2011) 401 final. Available at: ec.europa.eu/youth/library/publications/indicator-Dashboard_en.pdf    
4 Source: Mandate of Expert Group on EU indicators in the field of youth  
5 COUNCIL OF MINISTERS (2018). Resolution of the Council of the European Union and the Representatives of the 
Governments of the Member States meeting within the Council on a framework for European cooperation in the 
youth field: The European Union Youth Strategy 2019-2027, 2018/C 456/01). Available at:  
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:42018Y1218(01)&from=EN  
6 EUROPEAN COMMISSION (2018). Engaging, Connecting and Empowering young people: a new EU Youth 
Strategy, COM/2018/269 final. Available at: 
https://ec.europa.eu/youth/sites/youth/files/youth_com_269_1_en_act_part1_v9.pdf  
7 See: EUROPEAN COMMISSION (2017). Staff working document on the evaluation of the EU Youth Strategy, SWD 
(2017) 281 final. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/rep/10102/2017/EN/SWD-2017-281-F1-
EN-MAIN-PART-1.PDF and see: EUROPEAN COMMISSION (2017). Executive Summary of the Evaluation of the EU 
Youth Strategy, SWD (2017) 280 final, p.15. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/youth/sites/youth/files/2017-
youth- strategy-evaluation-summary_en.pdf 

7 

 
 
 
monitoring framework that captured the achievements of the Strategy. Development of the 
new policy indicators furthermore builds on the results of the open method of coordination 
(OMC) in the youth field 2010-2018 (SWD 2018/168)8. The experts took into account the 
European Youth Goals9 and incorporated in the revision of the Dashboard the guiding 
principles of a European Youth Policy and the new EU Youth Strategy: equality and non-
discrimination; inclusion; participation; global, European, national, regional and local 
dimension; and dual approach. 

This report was created upon finalisation of the revision of the dashboard conducted by the 
experts from September 2019 to November 2020, and the external consultations organised 
from October to November 2020 with Eurostat, Eurofound, EACEA Youth Wiki and Youth 
Goals Laboratory. It also integrates the final feedback on the revised Dashboard collected 
from the experts in January-February 2021. Section 1 of the report briefly describes the 
background, the youth policy context and quality standards underlying the revision of the 
dashboard; section 2 presents the structure, purpose and relevance of the revised 
Dashboard; and sections 3 and 4 present the revised Situation-Dashboard and newly 
developed Policy-Dashboard indicators. Expert reflections on relevance of the situation 
indicators for the EU Youth Goals are presented in Annex II while Annex III compiles 
general comments and recommendations for the future development and revision of the 
Situation-Dashboard. 

This report was written by Sladjana Petkovic, with the support of Ecorys, who were both 
commissioned by DG EAC to provide support services to expert groups and mutual learning 
activities in the field of youth policy from March 2019 to December 2021. 

1.1 

Indicative roadmap and methodology  

The work of the Expert Group 'EU indicators in the youth field’ was organised in line with the 
indicative roadmap (see Figure 1 below), which was adopted by the Expert Group in 
September 2019 and updated at the fourth meeting (in July 2020).The European 
Commission’s DG EAC hosted three face-to-face meetings and three virtual meetings of this 
Expert Group while additional online consultations took place between meetings, as per the 
experts’ request. The revision process included the thematic and the technical review of 
around 140 indicators compiled by Ecorys in an Indicators matrix which was composed of 
41 dashboard indicators and the additional European (e.g. Eurostat youth database)10 and 
global indicator datasets (e.g. Youth Development Index (YDI)11; Youth Well-being Index12, 
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicators)13. In addition, Youth Progress Index 
(YPI)14 and country specific youth indicators (i.e. Sweden) were presented to the experts 
but they were not a subject of assessment due to the technical limitations. Online Excel 
worksheets and tailored breakout session templates were developed to support the Expert 
Group in conducting the thorough (online and offline) assessment of the selected indicators, 
involving a) identification of key themes and relevant questions and b) identification of 
potential datasets and technical issues related to the indicators.  

8 EUROPEAN COMMISSION (2018). Staff Working Document on the results of the open method of coordination in 
the youth field 2010-2018, SWD (2018) 168. Available at: 
https://ec.europa.eu/youth/sites/youth/files/youth_swd_168_1_en_autre_document_travail_service_part1_v6.pdf 
9 See: https://ec.europa.eu/youth/policy/youth-strategy/youthgoals_en. The expert group was updated on the 
outcomes of this process during the third meeting. 
10 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/youth/data/database 
11 https://www.thecommonwealth-healthhub.net/global-youth-development-index-ydi/ 
12 https://www.iyfnet.org/library/2017-global-youth-wellbeing-index 
13 https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/ 
14 https://www.youthforum.org/youth-progress-index 

8 

 
 
 
The process of indicator assessment was based on the following quality selection criteria 
adopted by the experts: valid; relevant/usable; reliable/verifiable/transparent; coherent and 
comparable; measurable; cost-effective; statistically robust; disaggregated – potential to be 
downscaled; accessible and clear; achievable/feasible; time bounded and punctual. 
Additional selection criterion for revised dashboard indicators is linked to their relevance for 
the EU Youth Goals (see Annex II). 

Figure 1. Methodology for the Expert Group   

Source: Ecorys, 2020 

September 
2019

Meeting 1:
• Appointment of 
the co-chair(s).
• Discussion on 

expected 
outcomes, 
roadmap and 
working 
methods.
• Preliminary 

reflections on 
the Dashboard 
of EU youth 
indicators and 
possible 
update.

December 
2019

Meeting 2:
• Thematic and 

technical 
review.

• Assesment of 
Dashboard 
Indicators.

• Discussion on 

overall 
approach for 
policy 
indicators.

March 
2020

Meeting 3:
• Discussion on 
quantitative 
and qualitative 
policy 
indicators and 
benchmarks
• Resuming the 
review of the 
Situation-
Dashboard 
(contextual 
and situation  
dashboard 
indicators).

July         
2020

Meeting 4:
• Creation of 

the semi-final 
version of the 
Situation-
Dashboard.
• Resuming the 
development 
of Policy-
Dashboard.

September 
2020

Meeting 5:
• Finalisation 
of the Policy-
Dashboard.
• Discussion on 
Quality Youth 
Work 
indicators 
and relevance 
of the 
Dashboard 
for the third 
ECYW 2020.

November 
2020

Meeting 6:
• Results of 
external 
consultations 

• Finalisation 

and adoption 
of the 
revised 
Dashboard.
• Finalisation 

of the Expert 
Group 
report.

The Commission’s DG EAC and external partners, such as Eurostat, EACEA Youth Wiki, EU-
Council of Europe youth partnership, and EU Youth Goals Laboratory provided enriching 
inputs during the revision process. As mentioned earlier, external consultations with 
respective technical experts (including Eurofound), were conducted to gain their feedback 
on the final draft of the revised Dashboard, to develop ownership and to ensure that the 
document reflects the changing reality of youth in Europe. 

9 

 
 
 
 
 
2.  Structure and relevance of the revised Dashboard   

The structure of the revised Dashboard was adopted by the experts during the fourth 
meeting (held in July 2020). As the result, the revised Dashboard of EU Youth Indicators is 
composed of two main sections: Section 1: Situation-Dashboard and Section 2: Policy-
Dashboard, (see Figure 2).  

The Situation-Dashboard contains 73 revised and newly developed contextual and 
situation indicators: 

  Contextual indicators (4) provide introductory insight into the demographic data on 

the youth population in Europe; 

  Situation indicators (69) are divided between eight policy domains, which in turn 

are organised within three core dimensions aligned with the core actions of the EU 
Youth Strategy 2019-2027: Engage (2 domains, 12 indicators and 3 sub-
indicators); Connect (2 domains, 7 indicators and 4 sub-indicators); and Empower 
(4 domains, 15 indicators and 28 sub-indicators). 

The Policy-Dashboard combines the newly developed quantitative and qualitative policy 
indicators organised around 13 instruments of the EU Youth Strategy 2019-2027 (see Table 
10), including: 

1.  Evidence-based youth policy-making and knowledge building;  

2.  Mutual learning and dissemination; 

3.  Participatory governance; 

4.  Mobilising EU programmes and funds; 

5.  Monitoring of EU funding; 

6.  Communicating the EU Youth Strategy; 

7.  Future National Activities Planner; 

8.  EU Youth Dialogue; 

9.  The EU Youth Coordinator; 

10.  Youth Information and Support; 

11.  EU Work Plans for Youth; 

12.  Monitoring, reporting, evaluation; and  

13.  Mid-term Review. 

In comparison to the existing Dashboard (41 indicators), the structure of the revised 
Dashboard reflects the cross-sectoral nature of youth policy and the EYS and encompasses 
all the main aspects of young people’s lives. The replacement of indicators on ‘Culture and 
Creativity’ and ‘Youth and the World’ with indicators on ‘Youth and the Digital World’ and 
‘Quality Youth Work’ reflects the change in priorities in the youth field. The revised 
Dashboard provides a rich source of information for various audiences, including 
researchers, practitioners and policy makers. From a research perspective, the Situation-
Dashboard indicators should be most useful for youth research (i.e. research on young 
people), whereas the Policy-Dashboard clearly focuses on youth policy research.15 

15 Initial reflection on these topics has been formulated in the ‘Note on the renewed EU-Dashboard of youth 
indicators’, created by Hofmann-van de Poll, (unpublished internal document), and supported by the fellow experts 
during the consultation process. 

10 

 
 
 
 
Figure 1. The structure of the revised Dashboard 

11 

 
 
 
 
3.  Situation Dashboard   

The Situation-Dashboard (73) is composed of the contextual (4) and situation indicators 
(69) which were assessed by the experts as ‘essential’. Besides, Ecorys has developed a 
web-based interactive data visualisation tool to present an online version of the revised 
Situation-Dashboard16. It aims to encourage data exploration and comparative data 
analysis, and to enable users to view indicators and other statistical data, gaining 
insights in the situation on youth in the EU and their programme engagement and 
activities. Recommendations for the future development of Situation-Dashboard 
indicators and their relevance for the EU Youth Goals are presented in Annexes 2 and 3. 

3.1 

Contextual indicators   

  Youth population (4 indicators), see Table 1 

Table 1. Youth population 

No 

Indicator 

Definition 

Data source 

1. 

Number of young people 
in the EU countries 

Total number of young people 
(aged 15-29)17, by sex and 5-years 
age group, in thousands. 

Eurostat 
demographic 
annual data. 

2. 

Share of young people in 
the total population 

Young people (age-groups 15-19, 
20-24 and 25-29) as a share of the 
total population (by sex) in %. 

Eurostat 
demographic 
annual data.  

3. 

Average age of young 
people leaving the 
parental household 

Mean age of young people leaving 
home by sex.  

Eurostat, EU-LFS 

(annual data). 

4. 

Young people with migrant 
background 

Young people by country of birth, 
age group and sex. 

Eurostat Youth 
database. 

3.2 

Situation Indicators   

3.2.1 

Engage 

Overall  objective:  fostering  a  meaningful  civic,  economic,  social,  cultural  and  political 
participation of young people. 

  Youth participation in society (8 indicators), see Table 2 

  Employment and entrepreneurship (4 indicators + 3 sub-indicators), see Table 3 

16 Note: link to the online revised Situation Dashboard will be included in the report in due time. 
17 Note: the age group 15-29 (sometimes 16-29) was considered as the best coverage of young people for the 
majority of indicators and is included in all tables in added in Eurostat Youth databases. Data on more detailed, 
5-years groups, are available as well for many indicators (depending on the data source and data reliability).  

12 

 
 
 
 
Table 2. Youth participation in society 

No 

Indicator 

Definition 

Data source 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

Participation of young 
people in different 
organisations (cultural, 
charity, sport, etc.) 

Percentage of young people 
(aged 16-29) participating in 
formal voluntary activities. 

Participation of young 
people in informal 
voluntary activities (e.g. 
helping others) 

Percentage of young people (16-
29) participating in informal 
voluntary activities. 

Formal recognition for 
taking part in voluntary 
activities and share of 
young people using the 
credentials to achieve 
their further goals 

Youth active citizenship 
(participation in political 
parties, demonstrations, 
signing petitions, etc.- but 
without voting) 

Young people using 
internet for civic and 
political participation 
(petitions, opinions, etc.) 

Self-reported access to 
quality, neutral and youth-
friendly information 

Share of young people (age 15-
29) that declare a) having taken 
part in voluntary activities b) 
who have received a certificate, 
a diploma or other kind of formal 
recognition for their participation 
and c) who claim they have used 
the credentials in the labour 
market or educational setting to 
achieve their further goals.  

Percentage of young people (15-
29) declaring active citizenship. 

Percentage of young people (15-
29) using internet for civic or 
political participation. 

Share of young people reporting 
that they have easy access to 
understandable youth-friendly 
information that follows codes of 
ethics and quality standards. 

Participation of young 
people in representative 
structures (such as youth 
councils, youth 
parliaments), and civic-
organisations, political 
movements, parties or 
unions  

Share of young people (aged 15-
29) participating in 
representative structures (such 
as youth councils, youth 
parliaments), and civic-
organisations, political 
movements, parties or unions in 
the last 12 months.     

Eurostat, EU-SILC, 
ad-hoc module 
(ahm) on social and 
cultural participation 
2015, and every 6 
years from 2022 

Eurostat, EU-SILC, 
ahm on social and 
cultural participation 
2015, and every 6 
years from 2022 

Eurobarometer,  
Youth Monitor 

The European 
Parliament/country 
specific data 

Eurostat ICT use 
survey 
2015, 2017, 2019, 
2021  
(every 2 years) 

Eurobarometer 

Eurobarometer 

13 

 
8. 

Young people’s trust in 
government at local, 
regional, national and EU 
level 

Percentage of respondents who 
agreed with the statement ‘my 
government cares about my 
wants and needs’. 

European Social 
Survey 

Table 3. Employment and entrepreneurship 

No 

Indicator 

Definition 

Data source 

1. 

Youth unemployment 

Eurostat, EU-LFS 

(annual data) 

1.1.  Youth unemployment rate 

(sub-indicator 1) 

Share of unemployed among 
active population (employed and 
unemployed) aged 15-29. 

Eurostat, EU-LFS 

(annual data) 

1.2.  Long-term youth 

unemployment rate (sub-
indicator 2) 

Share of unemployed youth aged 
15-29 without a job for the last 
12 months or more among active 
population in this age group. 

Eurostat, EU-LFS 

(annual data) 

1.3.  Youth unemployment ratio 

(sub-indicator 3) 

Eurostat, EU-LFS 

(annual data) 

Share of unemployed among the 
total population (employed, 
unemployed and inactive), aged 
15-29.  

Note: This ratio balances out 
differences in MS activity rates, 
which influences unemployment 
rate. 

2. 

Youth self-employed 

Percentage of self-employed 
among all employed aged 20-24 
and 25-29.  

Eurostat, EU-LFS 

(annual data) 

3. 

Young people not in 
employment and not in 
any education and training 
(NEETs) 

Young people (15-29) neither in 
employment nor in education and 
training (NEET rates). 

Eurostat, EU-LFS 

(annual data) 

4. 

Young employees with a 
temporary contract  

The share of young employees 
with a contract of limited duration 
(aged 20-24 and 25-29). 

Eurostat, EU-LFS 

(annual data) 

14 

 
 
 
 
 
3.2.2 

Connect  

Overall objective: supporting connections, relations and exchange of experiences among 
young people also through mobility.  

  Youth mobility (4 indicators), see Table 4 

  Youth and the digital world (3 indicators + 4 sub-indicators), see Table 5 

Table 4: Youth Mobility 

No 

Indicator 

Definition 

Data source 

1. 

Mobility of tertiary 
students. 

Percentage of students from 
abroad enrolled in tertiary 
education, from EU-27 countries 
and from outside EU-27. 

Eurostat, UOE data 
collection  

(annual data) 

2. 

3. 

4. 

Mobility of tertiary 
students - participants of 
the Erasmus + program. 

Number of mobile Erasmus + 
students and trainees (outgoing 
and incoming). 

DG EAC 
(Erasmus+), 

(annual reports) 

Mobility of young people - 
participants of the 
Erasmus + program. 

Number of young people 
participating in youth exchanges 
under the Erasmus+ programme. 

DG EAC 
(Erasmus+), 

(annual reports) 

Cross-reference (Policy-
Dashboard 4.6) 

Mobility of young people - 
participants of the 
European Solidarity Corps 
program. 

Share of eligible participants (18-
30) taking part in the European 
Solidarity Corps programme.  

DG EAC (ESC), 

(annual reports) 

Cross-reference (Policy-
Dashboard 4.2) 

Table 4. Youth and the digital world 

No 

Indicator 

Definition 

Data source 

1. 

Digital skills of young 
people 

Percentage of young people 
(aged 15-29) with basic or above 
digital skills. 

Eurostat, ICT 
Survey  

(annual data) 

Att.: break in series 
in 2021 - new 
indicator from 2021 
and after - every 2 
years 

15 

 
 
 
 
 
 
2. 

Use of internet by young 
people for different 
purposes 

Percentage of young people using 
internet for different purposes. 

Eurostat, ICT 
Survey 

2.1.  Use of internet for 

interacting with public 
authorities (sub-indicator 
1) 

Percentage of young people aged 
15-29 using internet for 
interacting with public 
authorities.  

Eurostat, ICT 
Survey 

(annual data) 

2.2.  Use of internet for 

participating in social 
networks (sub-indicator 2) 

Percentage of young people aged 
15-29 using internet for 
participating in social networks. 

Eurostat, ICT 
Survey 

(annual data) 

2.3.  Use of internet for doing 
online course (sub-
indicator 3) 

Percentage of young people aged 
15-29 using internet for doing 
online course. 

Eurostat, ICT 
Survey 

(annual data) 

2.4.  Use of internet for reading 

news sites, newspapers, 
news magazines (sub-
indicator 4) 

Percentage of young people aged 
15-29 using internet for reading 
news sites, newspapers, news 
magazines. 

Eurostat, ICT 
Survey 

2019, 2021, 2022 

International differences in 
students' computer and 
information literacy, referring to 
their ability to use computers to 
investigate, create, and 
communicate in order to 
participate effectively at home, at 
school, in the workplace, and in 
the community. 

Are policy measures in place to 
help young people develop media 
literacy and digital competences, 
and ensure the safe use of new 
technologies and social media. 

IEA study: ICILS 
(2013, 2018, 2023) 

EACEA Youth Wiki 

Media literacy and safe 
use of new media 

3. 

Note: Eurostat has no 
indicators on media 
literacy. ‘Digital skills’ 
concept is used in this 
area. 

3.2.3 

Empower 

Overall objective: encouraging young people to take charge of their own lives through 
their engagement in quality youth work. Although the EUYS 2019-2027 recognises youth 
work18 as a powerful means for equipping young people with key personal, professional 
and entrepreneurial competences and skills - as well as a bridge into education, training 

18 Youth work "is understood as actions directed towards young people regarding activities where they take part 
voluntarily, designed for supporting their personal and social development through non-formal and informal 
learning". Source: Youth Wiki Guide to content, Chapter 10 Youth Work. 

16 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
or work, thus preventing exclusion - the experts suggested to include a wide range of 
domains in the Empower dimension of the Situation-Dashboard. 

  Quality youth work (5 indicators +10 sub-indicators),Table 6 

  Education and training (4 indicators +3 sub-indicators), see Table 7 

  Health & well-being (4 indicators +13 sub-indicators), see Table 8 

  Social inclusion (2 indicators +2 sub-indicators), Table 9 

Table 5. Quality youth work19 

No 

Indicator 

Definition 

Data source 

1. 

Quality assurance 

Existence of system of 
quality assurance and 
application to youth work in 
the country.  

Youth Wiki 10.4 
Quality and innovation 
in youth work 

1.1.  Are the main 

criteria/indicators/standards 
developed/used to assess 
the quality of youth work 
projects/programmes (sub-
indicator 1) 

1.2. 

Are the main mechanisms 
in place to evaluate the 
quality of youth work 
projects/programmes (sub-
indicator 2) 

1.3.  What are the main 

outcomes of quality 

Existence of the main quality 
assurance 
criteria/indicators/standards 
used to assess the quality of 
youth work 
projects/programmes (e.g. 
competences of youth 
workers; inclusiveness of 
youth work projects; 
expected outreach of youth 
work projects; pre-defined 
learning objectives for 
participants). 

Existence of the main 
mechanisms for evaluation 
of the quality of youth work 
projects/programmes (e.g. 
participants' feedback; 
regular evaluation of youth 
work providers organising 
the projects/ programmes; 
quantitative measurement of 
participation in 
projects/programmes). 

Whether youth work 
providers receive feedback 
and recommendations; 

19 Quality youth work is "a commitment to continually ensuring and enhancing optimum youth work provision 
and practice for young people. It’s about youth organisations, youth services and youth workers working with 
relevant stakeholders to plan and deliver activities and programmes that are relevant and responsive to young 
people's interests, needs and experiences, and which are evidence-informed and outcomes-focused. The result 
of quality youth work should be that young people derive maximum benefit from their participation in youth 
work". Source: Council conclusions on the contribution of quality youth work to the development, well-being 
and social inclusion of young people OJ C 168, 14.6.2013  
[Available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2013:168:0005:0009:EN:PDF ]. 

17 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Youth Wiki 10.4 
Quality and innovation 
in youth work 

Youth Wiki 10.4 
Quality and innovation 
in youth work 

assurance processes (sub-
indicator 3) 

2. 

Research and evidence 
supporting youth work 

2.1.  Are there any (open source 
and/or academic) research 
reports/studies on youth 
work available in the 
country (sub-indicator 1) 

2.2.  Is there any budget or 

funds allocated to support 
research on youth work in 
the country (sub-indicator 
2) 

2.3.  Is there any evaluation of 

youth work policies and 
regulations that is based on 
evidence (sub-indicator 3) 

3. 

Participative youth work 

3.1.  Have young people been 

consulted (and how) in 
development of youth work 
policies and regulations in 
the country (sub-indicator 
1) 

whether public funding can 
be withheld if 
projects/programmes do not 
meet the established quality 
criteria. 

Whether national authorities 
support better knowledge 
and understanding of youth 
work to ensure that it is 
relevant and responsive to 
the needs of young people. 

Whether examples of 
research either directly 
conducted or funded by 
national authorities exist 
(e.g. collection and 
dissemination of best 
practices; 
seminars/conferences 
organised to discuss youth 
work outcomes; research 
projects in cooperation with 
academic institutions). 

Existence of a specific top-
level budget or funds for 
supporting research on 
youth work. 

Whether and how youth 
work policies and regulations 
have been evaluated on the 
basis of evidence from 
research. 

Whether and how national 
authorities foster the 
participation of young people 
in the design of youth work 
programmes and initiatives. 

Whether top-level youth 
work policies and regulations 
have been developed with 
the consultation and 
contribution of young people 
(e.g. through youth councils, 
youth advisory bodies, youth 
parliaments). 

3.2.  Have young people been 

involved (and how) in the 
design, implementation and 

Whether top-level youth 
work policies and regulations 
require or invite 

18 

 
 
 
 
 
 
evaluation of youth work 
projects of youth 
organisations (sub-indicator 
2) 

organisations to involve 
young people in the design, 
implementation and 
evaluation of their youth 
work projects. 

4. 

Smart youth work: youth 
work in the digital world 

4.1.  Trainings to equip both 

youth workers and young 
people with digital and 
media literacy skills to be 
used in youth work projects 
(sub-indicator 1) 

4.2.  Initiatives and measures to 
make digital infrastructure 
available to youth work 
projects and programmes 
(sub-indicator 2) 

5. 

Cooperation and 
partnerships between youth 
work providers and actors 
in other fields aiming to 
transfer knowledge and 
practice 

Whether top-level policies 
and measures are in place 
aiming to enable and foster 
the application of digital 
technologies to youth work 
(such as using social media 
for reaching out to young 
people, providing online 
youth counselling, 
supporting young people's 
digital literacy, and enabling 
youth participation in youth 
work with digital tools). 

Whether -either directly 
organised or funded by 
public authorities- trainings 
are in place to equip both 
youth workers and young 
people with digital and 
media literacy skills to be 
used in youth work projects 
(e.g. assessing the relevance 
and reliability of digital 
content; protecting content, 
personal data and privacy in 
digital environments; online 
safety). 

Whether top-level initiatives 
and measures are in 
place/implemented to make 
digital infrastructure 
available to youth work 
projects and programmes 
(e.g. funding digitalisation of 
youth work projects, making 
software and hardware 
available to youth work 
providers). 

Whether top-level initiatives 
are in place aiming at 
facilitating cooperation and 
partnerships between youth 
work providers and actors in 
the fields of education, 
innovation, research and 
development, and business, 
in order to support the 

Youth Wiki 10.4 
Quality and innovation 
in youth work 

Youth Wiki 10.4 
Quality and innovation 
in youth work 

19 

 
 
 
 
transmission of (digital) 
practices (and technology) 
to youth work. 

Table 6. Education and training 

No 

Indicator 

Definition 

Data source 

1. 

Educational attainment level 
of young people  

Percentage of young people 
having completed given 
educational level, by sex. 

Eurostat, EU-LFS 

(annual data) 

1.1.  Young people (20-24 years) 

having completed upper 
secondary education (sub-
indicator 1). 

Percentage of the population 
20-24 having completed at 
least upper secondary 
education, by sex. 

Eurostat, EU-LFS 

(annual data) 

1.2.  Young people having 

completed tertiary 
education (sub-indicator 2) 

Share of population aged 30-
34 with tertiary education 
attainment, by sex. 

Eurostat, EU-LFS 

(annual data) 

1.3.  Early leavers from education 

and training (sub-indicator 
3) 

Percentage of young people 
aged 18-24 with at most 
lower secondary education 
not involved in any 
education or training. 

Eurostat, EU-LFS 

(annual data) 

2. 

Low achievers in reading, 
mathematics and science 
(15-years-old) 

Share of 15-year olds who 
get a score of 1 or below (on 
a scale from 1 to 5) in PISA 
tests in reading, 
mathematics and science. 

OECD-PISA 

(every 3 years) 

3. 

Young people learning in 
secondary school at least 
two foreign languages 

Percentage of pupils of 
secondary education learning 
at least two foreign 
languages, by orientation 
(general, vocational). 

Eurostat, UOE data 
collection 

(annual data) 

4. 

Participation of young 
people in non-formal 
education or training 

Percentage of young people 
participating (in last 4 
weeks) in non-formal 
education or training. 

Eurostat, EU-LFS 

(annual data) 

20 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Table 7. Health and well being 

No  

Indicator 

Definition 

Data source 

1. 

Quality of life 

Eurostat EU-SILC 

1.1.  Overall life satisfaction 

Average rating of overall life 
satisfaction by young people 
aged 16-29. 

Eurostat EU-SILC 

2013, 2018, from 
2021- annual data 

1.2. 

Trust in others 

1.3.  Job satisfaction 

Average rating of trust in 
others by young people aged 
16-29. 

Eurostat EU-SILC 

2013, 2018, from 2021 
-annual data 

Average rating of job 
satisfaction by young people 
aged 16-29. 

Eurostat EU-SILC,  

2013, 2018, from 2023 
- every 3 years 

1.4.  Satisfaction with 
accommodation 

Average rating of satisfaction 
with accommodation by 
young people aged 16-29. 

Eurostat EU-SILC,  

2013, from 2023 - 
every 3 years 

1.5.  Satisfaction with living area  Average rating of satisfaction 

Eurostat EU-SILC,  

with living area by young 
people aged 16-29. 

2013, from 2023 - 
every 3 years 

2. 

Health status 

Eurostat, EU-SILC. 

2.1.  Self-perceived general 

health 

Percentage of young people 
aged 16-29 declaring their 
general health as very good 
or good. 

Eurostat, EU-SILC 

(annual data) 

2.2.  Persons having a long-

standing illness or health 
problem 

Percentage of young people 
aged 16-29 declaring having 
a long-standing illness or 
health problem.  

Eurostat, EU-SILC 

(annual data) 

3. 

Health determinants 

Eurostat, EU-SILC 

3.1.  Regular smokers  

Share of daily cigarette 
(including electronic) 
smokers in the population 
aged 16-29. 

Eurostat, EU-SILC 
2017, from 2022 - 
every 3 years. 

21 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
3.2.  Alcohol use 

Percentage of young people 
aged 16-29 drinking alcohol 
every week. 

Eurostat, EU-SILC 
2017, from 2022 - 
every 3 years 

3.3.  Eating fruits and vegetables  Percentage of young people 
aged 16-29 declaring eating 
fruits and vegetables at least 
once a day. 

Eurostat, EU-SILC 
2017,from 2022 – 
every 3 years 

3.4.  Physical activity 

4. 

Causes of death 

Percentage of young people 
aged 16-29 without physical 
activity (outside working) in 
a typical week. 

Eurostat, EU-SILC 
2017, from 2022 – 
every 3 years 

Eurostat, database 
‘Causes of death’ 

(annual data) 

Eurostat, database 
‘Causes of death’ 

(annual data) 

4. 
1. 

Suicide as a cause of death  Deaths caused by suicide per 

100 000 inhabitants aged 
15-24. 

4.2.  Transport accident as a 

cause of death 

Deaths caused by transport 
accident per 100 000 
inhabitants aged 15-24. 

Eurostat, database 
‘Causes of death’ 

(annual data) 

Table 8. Social inclusion 

No 

Indicator 

Definition 

Data source 

1. 

At-risk-of-poverty or 
exclusion rate  

Eurostat, EU-SILC 
(annual data) 

Eurostat, EU-SILC 
(annual data) 

Share of young people (16-
29) who are at risk of 
poverty and/or severely 
materially deprived and/or 
living in a household with 
very low work intensity (by 
sex and country of birth).  

The gap between young 
people (1-29) and total 
population (in %) who are at 
risk of poverty and/or 
severely materially deprived 
and/or living in a household 
with very low work 

22 

 
 
 
intensity(by sex and country 
of birth).  

2. 

Housing conditions 

2.1.  Severe housing deprivation 
rate among young people  

Percentage of young people 
aged 16-29, suffering from 
severe housing deprivation. 

Eurostat, EU-SILC 

(annual data) 

2.2.  Overcrowding rate 

Percentage of young people 
aged 16-29, living in an 
overcrowded household. 

Eurostat, EU-SILC 

(annual data) 

23 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
4.  Policy Dashboard   

One of the expected outcomes within the mandate of this Expert Group was to create 
proposals for new quantitative and qualitative policy indicators and benchmarks, tailored 
to the needs of Member States and sectors concerned to help monitoring the 
implementation of the EU Youth Strategy (2019-2027).  

The experts began developing new policy indicators by reviewing the outcome indicators 
proposed by the Open Method of Coordination (OMC). Following a thorough assessment, 
the experts have included five ‘OMC outcome indicators’ in the revised Dashboard. They 
argued that there is a difficulty in fulfilling the political goal of monitoring the 
implementation of the EU Youth Strategy 2019-2027 when the proposed OMC indicators 
are technically insufficient to do so.  

Following consultations with the Commission’s DG EAC, the Expert Group concluded that 
a solution lies in the monitoring of the instruments of the Strategy by applying the set of 
policy indicators developed by them from March to November 2020 (see table 10). 
However, the Policy-Dashboard does not aspire to represent a comprehensive list of 
recommendations for qualitative and quantitative policy indicators aiming to measure the 
success of the EYS. It rather represents a ‘recommended list’ of data that youth experts 
think Member States should produce/collect in order to monitor the effectiveness of the 
EYS and support the EU Youth Report. This list is a result of an extensive discussion and 
suggestions developed by the experts based on the available data and expertise that 
could be further tested.  

Table 9. Policy indicators for EYS 2019-2027 instruments 

1. EVIDENCE-BASED YOUTH POLICY-MAKING AND KNOWLEDGE BUILDING 

Definition: EU Youth Policy should be evidence-based and anchored in the real needs 
and situations of young people. That requires continuous research, knowledge 
development and outreach to young people and youth organisations. The collection of 
disaggregated data on young people is of particular importance to foster understanding 
of the needs of different groups of young people, particularly those with fewer 
opportunities. Evidence based policy-making should be carried out with the support of 
the Youth Wiki, youth research networks, cooperation with international organisations 
such as the Council of Europe, the OECD and other bodies. 

1.1. 

Is there a national platform where people and authorities can inform 

themselves on European policy and its implementation in the country?  

1.2.  Whether there is a National Youth Plan/ National Youth Strategy in place in your 

country? 

1.3.  Whether the National Youth Plan / National Youth Strategy is based on 

evidence? 

1.4.  Whether there is a systematic follow-up on implementation of the National 

Youth Plan/ National Youth Strategy? 

1.5.  Whether Youth policy is regularly monitored and evaluated? If so, by whom?  

1.6. 

Is this systematic follow-up based on youth statistics/youth indicators? 

24 

 
 
1.7. 

Is there a National Youth Report (addressing the situation and needs on youth 

in place in your country)? If so, by whom is it written (e.g. by the public 
authority/Ministry, or by an independent researcher/academia? 

1.8. 

Is there a systematic follow-up based on national youth reports; How often the 

collection of data is being done and at what level? 

1.9.  What type of ad-hoc research on youth is in place in your country, if any? 

1.10.  What tools and techniques are taken in consideration as well as the ways of 

knowledge gathering and dissemination applied? 

1.11.  Is there a budget to finance independent research on youth and youth policy in 

your country?  

1.12.  What sources of funding for the research are there and how accessible they 

are? 

1.13.  Whether any self-assessment tool is in place on national, regional or local level?  

1.14.  Is there any in cooperation in place with the EU-Council of Europe youth 

partnership’s knowledge tools, i.e. Pool of European Youth Researchers (PEYR), 
and/or European Knowledge Centre for Youth Policy (EKCYP)?   

2.MUTUAL LEARNING AND DISSEMINATION 

Definition: Mutual learning between Member States, the European Commission and 
relevant stakeholders should be a tool for the advancement of youth policy with regard 
to both core and cross-sectoral areas. Expert groups will continue to develop policy 
guidance, practical tools and share good practices; this strategy will offer new tools for 
mutual learning, such as peer reviews and peer counselling, high-level forums, analysis 
and studies, following the priorities of the EU Youth Strategy at large, and within the 
triennial Work Plans. It will pursue a more systematic approach to quality youth 
information, outreach and dissemination, building on its existing networks.   

2.1. Did Member State governments engage in European mutual learning?  If so, what 
type of MLA would that be? 

2.2. Do the Member States nominate experts for expert groups (ask experts in each 
expert group where they come from (their background, which sector, etc)?  

2.3. Are the peer-reviews already taking place? If so, how are the peer reviews 
organised?  

2.4. How do the peer reviews feed back to the EC and countries?  

2.5. What are the results of mutual learning activities?  

2.6. What impact peer learning activities have at the national policy-making level? 

2.7. Whether Member States collaborate with civil society organisatons for expertise 
and mutual learning? 

25 

 
2.8. Whether mutual learning activities involve municipalities? 

2.9. Whether mutual learning activities involve youth civil sector and young people?  

2.10. Whether comparative thematic reports exist between Member States? 

2.11. Are there measures in place to monitor quantity and quality of the Comparative 
Overviews (Youth Wiki)? 

2.12. If the most important challenges in MS where they need mutual learning are 
found in EU Youth Strategy in a useful way? 

3.PARTICIPATORY GOVERNANCE 

Definition: In order to acknowledge young people as experts of their own lives, it is 
crucial to ensure that young people and their representative organisations are involved 
in the different phases of implementation of the EU Youth Strategy. Participation 
increases visibility for young people and their concerns, but it also raises the visibility 
of decision-makers in youth policy in the eyes of young people. Participation also aims 
at increasing legitimacy and acknowledgement of youth policies. In order to build a 
basis for a regular civic dialogue, give stakeholders a greater role in coordinating the 
implementation of the strategy, offer opportunities to exchange information on 
activities and results, an EU Youth Strategy Platform will aim to facilitate participatory 
governance and coordination of the implementation of the Strategy. The Commission is 
invited to organise dedicated meetings to bring together, as appropriate, 
representatives of EU institutions, Member States, National Agencies of Erasmus+ and 
the European Solidarity Corps, youth organisations and other relevant stakeholders as 
well as local and regional authorities. 

 3.1. What types of stakeholders are represented in the EU Youth Strategy Platform? 
How many stakeholders and sectors are included in the EU Youth Strategy Platform?  

3.2. What types of measures are taken to foster active contribution and to steer 
discussions and engagement of participants of the EU Youth Strategy Platform? 

3.3. Is there a reporting system in place?  Are members of the EU Youth Strategy 
Platform being informed about the outcomes? 

3.4. What mechanism are in place to include the EU youth stakeholders in the 
development and governance of the EYS (including youth organisations and/or 
umbrella organisations)?  

3.5. What measures are in place for the implementation of participatory governance at 
the Member State level?  What types of stakeholders are involved and who is setting 
the agenda?  

3.6. Are there instruments in place to involve young people and their representative 
organizations in development, implementation, and evaluation of youth policies at the 
Member state level (Youth Wiki Chapter 1.4)? 

4.MOBILISING EU PROGRAMMES AND FUNDS 

Definition: The strategy will promote effective use of EU programmes and funds, such 
as Erasmus+, the European Solidarity Corps, European Structural and Investment 

26 

 
Funds, Horizon 2020, including the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, Creative Europe, 
and their successors. Member States are invited to explore synergies between funding 
sources at EU, national, regional and local levels.  

4.1. How are EU funds mobilised? Are there synergies between EU funding streams in 
place?    

4.2. Share of eligible participants (18-30) taking part in the European Solidarity 
Corps.   

4.3. Share of eligible participants (13-30) taking part in the Erasmus+ programme.  

4.4. Accessibility of EU programmes and funds to young people and 
youth organisations.  

4.5. The share of projects dedicated to youth work topic in the Erasmus+ programme. 

4.6. Number of young people participating in youth exchanges under the Erasmus+ 
programme. 

4.7. Number of youth workers directly involved in the Erasmus+ programme at the 
country level.  

4.8. Number of young people and youth workers having received a Youthpass 
certificate.   

4.9. How are youth policies funded, also through the use of EU funds? (Source: Youth 
Wiki Chapter 1.7).  

4.10. Are EU funds (other than Erasmus+ and ESC) used for projects that are in line 
with the EUYS? 

4.11. Are measures put in place to provide synergies between the EU programmes and 
funds and youth policy development in Member States in line with the EUYS 
priorities/goals? 

5. MONITORING OF EU FUNDING 

Definition: Transparency on EU action for young people, should include monitoring of 
EU spending on youth, using existing mechanisms as appropriate.  

5.1. What funding systems and schemes are in place and how they can be identified 
(e.g. through monitoring of a single entry point to EU funding opportunities hosted on 
the European Youth Portal)?  

5.2. Are there mechanisms in place to monitor and evaluate the implementation of 
measures and actions that target young people at European, national and local level? 

5.3. Are the specific indicators in Erasmus+ and ESC programmes to identify activities 
exclusively dedicated to young people? 

5.4. What is the overall EU spending on youth across multiple EU funds, including 
structural funds (youth mainstreaming across the EU funding schemes)? 

5.5. How many applications targeting youth are there for funding? What is the ratio of 
supply (available funds) and demand (needs) for the EU funds targeting youth? 

27 

 
6. COMMUNICATING THE EU YOUTH STRATEGY  

Definition: Keeping in mind the different stakeholders involved in policy-making for 
young people, it is important to communicate the purpose and the content of the EU 
Youth Strategy in a comprehensive way and youth-friendly language. The EU Youth 
Strategy together with the European Youth Goals can provide orientation for people 
closely involved in shaping youth policy as well as to actors outside of that field, 
creating a new and positive narrative on EU youth policy and Youth Work in Europe. 

6.1. Is the EU Youth Strategy Platform used to communicate the purpose and content 
of the EUYS among the stakeholders in the Member States?  

6.2. Are there any mechanisms/ communication campaigns in place to communicate 
and raise awareness on the EU programmes, processes and outcomes at the Member 
State level (e.g by using the youth policy pages at the EU Youth Portal which provide 
general information about the strategy)? 

6.3. Does the national youth strategy refer to the EYS?  

6.4. Do communication strategies aiming to promote the national youth strategy also 
promote the EYS? 

6.5. Does the national youth strategy seek to influence country’s engagement with the 
EYS, and the development of the EYS as a whole? 

6.6. What is the level of awareness about the EUYS and the European Youth Goals 
among young people and youth organisations at the Member State level? 

6.7. Are there any examples of good practice on a successful linking of national youth 
strategies to the EYS, and are young people involved in this linkage? 

7.FUTURE NATIONAL ACTIVITIES PLANNER 

Definition: The Future National Activities Planner (FNAP) intend to allow Member States 
on a voluntary basis to share their priorities in line with the EU Youth Strategy. Their 
aim is to increase transparency in the implementation of youth policies at regional, 
national and EU level. This should help identify appropriate partners for mutual 
learning activities, responding to individual needs of Member States. In order to avoid 
additional administrative burden, the FNAPs should build on existing national youth 
policy frameworks/national youth strategies. 

7.1. Is there any FNAP in place at the Member State level? If so, is there any guide for 
the Implementation of FNAPs?  

7.2. What about the involvement of youth organisations? How were they consulted? 

7.3. Were young people involved in prioritisation and planning? 

7.4. Are there any concrete cooperation activities between Member States? If yes, 
which ones?  

7.5. Are the measures/criteria in place to assure the quality of the cooperation 
process?   

7.6. Is there a training plan in place for Member States focal points and youth 
technicians from municipalities and youth organizations?  

28 

 
7.7. How the transparency and participatory approach has been assured for the 
process of mutual learning based on FNAP?  

7.8. To what extent was the information from the FNAPs used for activities between 
Member States (also regional perspective)? 

7.9. What does it take to further develop the FNAPs as a proactive participatory tool? 

8. EU YOUTH DIALOGUE 

Definition: Building on the achievements of the Structured Dialogue with young people 
and youth organisations, a new EU Youth Dialogue (YD) will be established, with the 
necessary tools, with the aim of including more decision-makers and young people, 
especially those not-listened-to and/or with fewer opportunities in decision-making 
processes and the implementation of the EU Youth Strategy, fostering their 
engagement and their political participation with the EU and society at large. In 
addition, a more regular exchange between EU Youth Dialogue National Working 
Groups and the European Commission should be facilitated. 

8.1. How many people from the European Commission/national authorities are 
attending the EU Youth Conference?  

8.2. Are the National Working Groups on EU YD set? If so, is there an implementation 
plan in place?  

8.3. Are stakeholders connected to the YD’s collection of data?  

8.4. The diversity of young people and youth organisations participating in the EU YD 
process.: how representative is the EU YD? Is the EU YD collecting users' backgrounds?  

8.5. How many young people took part in the consultation process on the EU YD? Are 
young people included in the second cycle?  

8.6. Youth organisations participation in the: How many youth organisations are 
engaged in the governance of the EU YD on European and national level?  

8.7. How content are the different stakeholders (young people, ministries, others) 
during and after EU YD activities?  

8.8. What is the ‘impact of the EU YD’ after the consultations are over: do 
governments use the outcomes of EU YD when designing national youth policies? Are 
they creating links with EU Youth Goals? 

8.9. Who is responsible for the follow-up in terms of outcomes of the cycle at the 
national and local level? Are the responsible parties given resources and political 
mandate?  

8.10. Are EU Youth Goals taken into account while defining a youth strategy at the 
national level? How EU Youth Goals are implemented on the national and sub-national 
levels, and how are young people's suggestions considered?  

8.11. What about the communication and dissemination of the outcomes of the EU YD 
on the European level (e.g. Council Conclusions and Resolution) to young people and 
youth organisations? Is there any feed-back from the EU-level decision makers?  

9. THE EU YOUTH COORDINATOR 

29 

 
Definition: The Council welcomes the intention to establish an EU Youth Coordinator 
within the European Commission, with the objective of enhancing cross-sectoral 
cooperation, as well as knowledge development and exchange on youth issues within 
the European Commission services. The EU Youth Coordinator should work hand in 
hand with various stakeholders to ensure a coherent communication towards young 
people. 

9.1. Is there an EU Youth Coordinator in place?  

9.2. Do you know about the EU Youth Coordinator? Did you meet his/her team?  

9.3. Did you collaborate with him/her? If yes, how did the collaboration take place, 
what did it look like? 

9.4. How the outcomes of the EU Youth Dialogue are being mainstreamed across 
different DGs? 

9.5. Are presidential documents from other Council´s bodies (not only from Youth 
Working Party) taken into account youth perspective?  What EU policies have specific 
youth angle?  

9.6. How is the inter-institutional collaboration being implemented? What about the 
collaboration with youth organisation and stakeholders?  

10. YOUTH INFORMATION AND SUPPORT  

Definition: With the adequate provision of quality youth information services and 
platforms at all levels, including the European Youth Portal, and with the support of 
European-wide organisations, young people's equal access to quality information on 
their rights, opportunities, youth services and EU programmes for young people can be 
promoted. 

10.1. Is there a comprehensive youth information policy/strategy put in place to 
ensure young people's access to information and promote youth related information? 

10.2. Is there a specific policy/strategy in place to support media literacy among 
youth?  

10.3. Is there a dedicated public youth information service provided by local, national 
or EU level authorities (e.g. the EU is funding several info networks such as Eurodesk, 
Europe Direct, Euroguidance, etc.)? Is there a budget for implementing the strategy? 

10.4. Young peoples’ access to EU information services (Eures, Eurodesk, Europe 
Direct) - ratio or number of young people.  

10.5. Is there any quality assurance system for youth information put in place? 

10.6. Are there targeted information measures for specific groups of young people in 
place (groups to be specified)? 

10.7. What is the perception of young people on the availability/quality of youth 
information services available? 

10.8. Are any of the existing national/regional/local organisation and/or youth 
information services members of a Europe-wide organisation promoting youth 
information? 

30 

 
10.9. What is percentage of young people being informed/aware/using these 
information services?  

10.10. Are there mechanisms put in place to measure impact of youth information 
strategies/services? 

10.11. What is the number of users of the European Youth Portal? 

11. EU WORK PLANS FOR YOUTH 

Definition: The EU Youth Strategy will be following triennial working periods which 
spans two Presidency Trios. The priorities and actions for the respective working 
periods will be presented in the EU Work Plans for Youth. The Council will set these EU 
Work Plans together with the Commission, beginning with a work plan for 2019-2021 
(1). These plans should draw on the guiding principles and priorities of this Strategy, 
addressing youth issues in other Council configurations and their preparatory bodies in 
relevant policy areas.  

11.1. How does the EU work plan for youth engage with / make reference to national 
priorities?   

11.2. Do EU work plans for youth take into account the EU Youth Goals? If yes, which 
ones?  

11.3. Are national Youth Councils involved in discussions on the youth national and/or 
presidency priorities?  

11.4. Are the outcomes of the Youth Dialogue reflected in the Council documents?  

11.5. Are young people, youth civil society, youth councils, involved in 
the preparation of the EU work plan for youth (European and national)?  

11.6. Are young people involved in the implementation of the EU work plan for youth 
(e.g. through consultations, dialogue, empowerment)?  

11.7. Are young people involved in the monitoring and evaluation of the EU work 
plan for youth?  

11.8. How the work plan will be implemented at national level, also for rural youth and 
youth from remote areas?  

12.MONITORING, REPORTING, EVALUATION 

Definition: In order to review and facilitate the progress of policy coordination, periodic 
monitoring of the progress achieved should be conducted. Good practices and their 
conditions for transferability should be identified to facilitate mutual learning between 
Member States. The Commission will report on the implementation of the EU Youth 
Strategy every three years, based, inter alia, on information provided by Member 
States and the Youth Wiki. The Youth Wiki will continue to provide information on the 
development of national youth policies. At EU level, youth organisations and other 
relevant stakeholders will be closely involved in monitoring progress through the EU 
Strategy Platform. The Dashboard of EU Youth Indicators can be used to monitor the 
overall situation of young people in Member States. The Member States and the 
European Commission are invited to review the Indicators' Dashboard in the first year 
after adoption of the EU Youth Strategy. Quantitative and qualitative indicators and 
benchmarks could be established, tailored to the needs of Member States and sectors 
involved, as a means for comparing best practices and monitoring the implementation 

31 

 
of the strategy. A policy review of EU funded research projects should be conducted 
from 2019 on to extract relevant findings for the youth policy area. 

12.1. Is the Dashboard of EU Youth indicators used as the reference framework for 
monitoring and evaluation of youth policy implementation at the EU and Member State 
level? 

12.2. How are the monitoring/evaluation processes coordinated at the Member State 
level? 

12.3. Are the monitoring/evaluation processes participatory at the EU and Member 
State levels?  

12.4. Which stakeholders (e.g. national youth councils, youth organisations) are 
involved in the monitoring/evaluation of youth policy at the EU and Member State 
level? 

12.5. Is the youth dimension mainstreamed in other policy documents in your country? 

12.6. Are there any instruments for cross-sectorial collaboration in place? If so, are 
their reflected in the reports? 

13.MID-TERM REVIEW 

Definition: The Council shall carry out a mid-term review of the EUYS on the basis 
of an evaluation report to be submitted by the Commission by 31 December 2023. It 
shall review as appropriate this Resolution in the year 2024, in order to adjust it to 
possible new developments and needs. 

13.1. Have the Dashboard indicators been used to support development and 
implementation of the mid-term review? 

13.2. Does EU and governments use the mid-term review to change policy and/or work 
plans? 

13.3. Has quality involvement of youth civil society been assured in the mid-term 
review process? 

32 

 
 
  
 
Annex I: Dashboard of EU youth indicators (2011) 

EU YOUTH INDICATORS DASHBOARD 

0.1 Child population 

0.2. Youth population 

0.3. The ratio of young people in the total population 

0.4. Mean age of young people leaving the parental household   

1. EDUCATION AND TRAINING 

1.1. Early leavers from education and training   

1.2. Low achievers  

Reading 

Maths 

Science 

1.3. Tertiary education attainment 

1.4. Young people (20-24) having completed at least upper secondary education 

1.5. Learning at least two foreign languages 

2. EMPLOYMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP 

2.1. Youth unemployment 

2.1.1. Youth unemployment rate 

2.1.2. Long-term youth unemployment rate 

2.2. Youth unemployment ratio 

2.3. Self-employed youth 

2.4. Young people who would like to set up their own business 

2.5. Young employees with a temporary contract 

3. HEALTH AND WELL-BEING 

3.1. Regular smokers   

3.2. Obesity    

33 

 
3.3. Alcohol use past 30 days    

3.4. Cause of death of young people - suicide 

3.5. Psychological distress 

3.6. Injuries: road traffic: self-reported incidences 

3.7. Use of illicit drugs 

4. SOCIAL INCLUSION 

4.1. At-risk-of-poverty or 
exclusion rate 

4.1.1. For children (<18) compared to total population  

4.1.2. For young people (18-24) compared to total 
population 

4.2. At-risk-of-poverty rate 

4.2.1. For children (<18) compared to total population 

4.3. Severe Material 
deprivation rate 

4.2.2. For young people (18-24) compared to total 
population 

4.3.1. For children (<18) compared to total population 

4.3.2. For young people (18-24) compared to total 
population 

4.4. Living in households with 
very low work intensity 

4.4.1. For children (<18) compared to total population  

4.4.2. For young people (18-24) compared to total 
population 

4.5. Self-reported unmet need for medical care for young people (18-24) compared to 
total population 

4.6. Young people not in employment, education or training (NEET) 

5. CREATIVITY AND CULTURE 

5.1. Participating in amateur artistic activities    

5.2. Participation in cultural activities   

5.3. Participation in sports clubs, leisure time or youth clubs/organisations or cultural 
organisations 

6. PARTICIPATION 

6.1. Young people’s participation in political organisations/party or community/ 
environmentally oriented organisations 

34 

 
6.2. Participation of young people in political elections at local, regional, national or EU 
level 

6.3. Young people 18-30 who got elected into the European Parliament 

6.4. Young people who use internet for interaction with public authorities 

6.5. Young people using internet for accessing or posting opinions on websites (e.g. blogs, 
social networks, etc.) for discussing civic and political issues (in the last three months). 

7. VOLUNTARY ACTIVITIES 

7.1. Young people’s participation in organised voluntary activities     

7.2. Share of young people participating in organised voluntary activities aimed at 
improving their local community   

7.3. Share of young people who have stayed abroad for the purpose of volunteering 

7.4. Formal recognition of participation in voluntary activities 

8. YOUTH AND THE WORLD 

8.1. Young people’s participation in organisations active in the domains of global climate 
change/global warming, global development or human rights 

8.2. Participation of young people in activities or projects aimed at fostering cooperation 
with youth from other continents 

35 

 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
Annex II: Relevance of the Situation-Dashboard 
for the EU Youth Goals   

Expert reflections on the relevance of the situation indicators for the EU Youth Goals 

YOUTH POPULATION 

  #2 Equality of all genders: Sex should include non-binary and trans options, e.g. 
adding some of the following options: I do not identify as male or female; I have 
changed my gender identity and now I think of myself as a male; I have changed my 
gender identity and now I think of myself as a female (EU Youth Goals Laboratory). 

YOUTH PARTICIPATION IN SOCIETY 

  #1 Connecting EU with Youth: Build young people’s trust in the EU project by 

addressing the democratic deficit, lack of transparency and visibility.  

  #4 Information and Constructive Dialogue: Ensure young people can engage in 

respectful, tolerant and non-violent dialogue, online and offline. 

  #6 Moving Rural Youth Forward: Ensure that young people in rural areas are 

actively participating in decision-making processes. 

  #9 Space and Participation for All: 

  Ensure safe virtual youth spaces are accessible to every young person which provide 

access to information and services as well as ensure opportunities for youth 
participation. 

  Provide youth-friendly, relevant, comprehensive information, also developed by and 

with young people, in order to enable youth participation. 

EMPLOYMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP 

  #6 Moving Rural Youth Forward: Ensure that sustainable, high quality jobs, 

accessible to young people are created in rural areas. 

  #7 Quality Employment for All:  

  Guarantee fair treatment and equal opportunities for all young people in order to end 

discrimination in the labour market. 

  Safeguard social protection and healthcare for all young workers. 

YOUTH MOBILITY 

  #11 Youth Organisations & European Programmes 

YOUTH AND THE DIGITAL WORLD 

  #4 Information and Constructive Dialogue:  

  Ensure young people have the ability to recognise and report hate speech and 

discrimination online and offline; 

  Ensure parents and carers, and all those involved with educating and training young 
people are equipped with media and digital literacy skills and that they are reliable 
information sources for young people. 

36 

 
  #9 Space and Participation for All 

QUALITY YOUTH WORK 

  #11 Youth Organisations & European Programmes 

EDUCATION AND TRAINING 

  #6 Moving Rural Youth Forward: Ensure equal access to high quality education for 

young people in rural areas. 

  #7 Quality Employment for all: 

  Guarantee the recognition and validation of competencies acquired through 

internships, apprenticeships and other forms of work-based learning, as well as 
volunteering and non-formal education. 

  Ensure that young people have access to citizenship education to provide them with 
solid knowledge on political systems, democracy and human rights, attained also 
through community-based experiences in order to promote active civil participation. 

  #8 Quality Learning 

  Life skills are explicitly named in the example: 

https://www.education.ie/en/publications/education-
reports/lifeskills%20survey%202015.pdf. 

  Citizenship education is also explicitly mentioned here: 

https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/6b50c5b0-d651-11e7-a506-
01aa75ed71a1/language-en/format-PDF/source-56573425. 

HEALTH AND WELL-BEING 

  #5 Mental Health & Wellbeing: Focus on prevention measures that ensure young 
people are equipped with the knowledge and the skills required for better mental 
wellbeing. 

SOCIAL INCLUSION 

  #3 Inclusive Societies:  

  Tackle discrimination and ensure equal rights for all genders in cultural, political and 

socio-economical life. 

  Strengthen social support by implementing the right to a living wage, fair work 

condition, universal access to quality health care, and ensure specific measures for 
marginalised young people. 

  Provide more spaces, opportunities, resources and programmes to foster dialogue and 

social cohesion, and combat discrimination and segregation. 

  Ensure that marginalised young people are participating in all decision-making 

processes and are key players, particularly in processes concerning their own rights, 
wellbeing and interests. 

  Ensure that all marginalised young people have equal access to formal and non-formal 

learning environments, addressing all the dimensions of inclusion. 

  #5 Mental health & Wellbeing 

37 

 
Annex III: General comments and 
recommendations for development and revision 
of the Situation-Dashboard 

General comments: 

  All Eurostat data can be presented by sex, the majority (if relevant) by 5-years 
group (although the reliability could be a concern) and by educational attainment 
(more relevant for older age groups). The breakdown should be mentioned only if 
it is very important (e.g. to show inequality).  

  Expert recommendations on data disaggregation: a) indicators on access to 
rights and cross-sectoral cooperation need to cover all 8 domains; b) all the 
performance indicators should propose a differentiation by gender; c) social 
inclusion domain: to disaggregate data according to age, sex and migrant 
background. 

  Eurostat ICT surveys for after 2022 will respond to the new DG CONNECT 
framework, to be decided this year. DG EAC could have a voice to propose 
variables/indicators needed for the policy. 

  EU-SILC modules will run on 3- or 6-years rotation. The majority of variables in 
these modules (on health, labour, social participation, etc.) will be repeated but 
they are always discussed and some changes are possible.  

  Some alignment of future Eurobarometers on Youth with Eurostat variables and 

surveys calendar would be beneficial for monitoring situation of youth.  

  Eurofound suggests an in-depth statistical analysis and a quality check of 

the various indicators because the revised dashboard includes data from several 
sources of very different quality and data providers, with very different period of 
references and very different levels of representativeness. There are a set of 
standard statistical analyses that could be performed (e.g. correlation analysis, 
principal component analysis, crombach alpha). All these are explained on in the 
JRC-OECD Handbook on Constructing Composite Indicators 
(https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/publication/books/handbook-constructing-composite-
indicators-methodology-and-user-guide. 

Expert recommendations for the Situation-Dashboard indicators 

YOUTH POPULATION 

  Indicators on youth with disability (Eurostat, SILC) 

  Indicators on sexual identity/orientation despite low data availability/potential to be 

included in policy Dashboard. 

YOUTH PARTICIPATION IN SOCIETY 

  Youth sense of belonging to the European project (Eurobarometer). 

  Age for office (Data are available in the Youth Wiki, besides the sources mentioned in 
the dashboard. A comparative online map is available on the Youth Wiki website). 

  Young people 18-30 who got elected into local, regional, national and the European 
Parliament. (The indicator poses difficulties concerning the number of young people 

38 

 
elected in national and regional parliaments. While data are available for the European 
Parliament, they are not for national and regional ones). 

  Youth engagement in boards of sport clubs, leisure clubs, youth clubs, associations.  

  Participation of the young in activities of churches or other religious organisation by 

sex and age. 

  Collaborative environment when interacting with other young people. 

  Obstacles to participation in EU programmes / Accessibility of the EU programmes: 
more details about the profiles of the participants, more data from young people. 

  Voting in direct democracy mechanism, such as referenda, popular initiatives, recalls, 
or town hall meetings (despite the fact that there surely will not be too many of those 
around the EU…). 

  Indicator on number of innovative participatory mechanisms across the EU, such as: 

participatory budgeting opportunities; citizen councils; public consultations; 
participatory planning; referenda. 

  Indicator on the individualized political participation types (as conventional and non-
conventional are covered), such as boycotting products, systematically engaging in 
environmentalism (e.g. reducing car travel, increasing cycling, using reusable 
packaging, going vegan, etc.).  

  Self-reported level of information on/awareness of current EU/national/local public 

matters. Maybe using some of the information provided by the initiative “EU vs Disinfo” 
to mark how much disinformation is aimed directly at young people every year. 

EMPLOYMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP 

  Job satisfaction (EU-LFS 2017, EU-SILC every 3 years). 

  Commuting to work (remoteness, urban rural dimension). 

  Number of young people in internships (ratio of paid and unpaid internships). 

  Number of young people in traineeships.  

  Number of start-ups developed by young people.  

YOUTH MOBILITY 

  Structural indicator for voluntary programmes and services. 

  What about volunteering abroad? We could have statistics from the Solidarity Corps for 
example (e.g. about going abroad to learn, volunteer or work for a period of more than 
2 weeks). 

  Indicators on intercultural awareness (limited data availability). 

  Number of exchanges and international volunteering opportunities would be good to 

know in order to put the numbers of young participants into perspective (to be able to 
see how many people per project we have on average in different countries, etc.).  

  Background of the young people participating (in order to be able to tell how inclusive 

the projects are and what level of outreach they show). 

YOUTH AND THE DIGITAL WORLD 

39 

 
  Skills for innovation (Youth Wiki: Chapter 6 (6.7.)) 

  Young people victims of cyber bullying by age and sex. 

  A sub-indicator on safe usage of digital technologies (e.g. amount of risky online 

behaviour young people engage in, based on a list they could pick from in the ICT 
Survey: chatting online with people they do not know in person, sharing pictures of 
themselves to people they do not know in person, etc.). 

  Access to digital world of youth with visual and other impairments. 

QUALITY YOUTH WORK 

  Indicators referring to ‘youth work’ in general should be further developed (if we 

narrow the focus on quality only it could imply that there is an issue with quality of 
youth work practice across Europe).  

  What about the recognition of the youth worker profession, access to initial and 

continuing training. This is a major difference between countries and an essential 
element of quality. 

EDUCATION AND TRAINING 

  Indicators on young people with more difficult access to education (e.g. from 

vulnerable groups, with Roma background, refugees, etc.). 

  Indicators on youth in institutions (e.g. youth with disabilities, youth in long-term 

juvenile institutions, young people in specialized education).  

  More information about participation in non-formal education and training (e.g. via e-
courses). Make the timeframe wider, as non-formal learning activities can highly 
depend on season of the year (with summer bringing more opportunities to participate 
than other seasons), and this could provide an unclear picture…e.g. last 3 months? 

  Include a more current thinking about what competences are necessary in today’s 

world, such as life skills and citizenship education. 

HEALTH AND WELL-BEING 

  Indicators on disability: ‘prevalence of disability, employment of disabled persons, 

barriers to the social integration of disabled persons’, 

  Indicators on mental health issues, depression, distress, anxiety; and on access 

to/satisfaction with mental health services. 

  Indicators on fear of the future/worries about climate change/respectively optimistic 

view. 

  Indicators on sexual transmitted diseases (WHO). 

  Indicators on work life balance (some data coming from EU-LFS, Flash Eurobarometer). 

SOCIAL INCLUSION 

  Indicators on social inclusion/exclusion perception. 

  Indicators on intercultural understanding, openness to cultural diversity and value of 

diversity. 

40 

 
  Indicators on solidarity and barriers to solidarity (e.g. ‘Young people involved in 

solidarity activities with other communities (refugees, deprived populations’ etc.). 

  Indicators related to access to housing, justice, youth counselling services and 

helplines. (Could be linked to the counselling; mental health; or merged with other 
areas). 

  Measures of inclusion of young people with mental issues into everyday life, including 

labour market and learning opportunities. 

  Support mechanisms that enable young people with various disadvantages (mental & 

physical health, cultural background, economic background) to engage in everyday life, 
e.g. number of young people reached by/attending/engaged in the outreach 
programmes battling exclusion & discrimination. 

41 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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