Youth participation in political, social and economic life is crucial for a healthy democracy.

It has many diverse forms - it can be conventional or unconventional, including activities such as voting, being members of political parties, serving on a local youth council, engaging through a youth organisation, or taking part in online political activism, boycotts, or a protest movement. The Youth Partnership research on youth participation aims to contribute to a better understanding of the phenomena linked to youth political participation by looking at a range of topics, including ​shrinking space for civil society, gender, digitalisation, new forms of participation, participation in climate movements, EU Youth Dialogue, impact of Covid-19 on youth spaces, advancement of populist ideologies, increased inequalities, and a rise of global youth movements.

Resources

 Young people's political participation

 Podcast: Youth civic space with Ana Mosiashvili, Carlotta Magoga, Gilda Isernia (2025)

   Young people’s participation in the 2024 European elections (2025)

    Review of the 9 cycles of the EU Youth Dialogue (2010-2022) (2024)

 Young people's participation and digitalisation: opening up space for new forms of political participation? (2024) and  illustration

 Review of the 9 cycles of the EU Youth Dialogue (2010-2022): Executive summary

 Contemporary forms of young women’s participation: priorities, challenges and ways forward? (2023) and   illustration

 New forms of political participation. Statistical survey (2023)

 Evaluation of participant inclusion levels within the EU Youth Dialogue

 Study "Meaningful youth political participation in Europe: concepts, patterns and policy implications" (2022)

Insights into Meaningful youth political participation in Europe (2021)

Covid-19 impact on youth participation and youth spaces (2022)

Disobedient youth: Lessons from the youth climate strike movement (2021)

Perspectives on youth participation (2020)

Young people’s right to assemble peacefully. A mapping study, in preparation of the first review of the recommendation CM/Rec (2016)7 (2016)

Shrinking democratic civic space for youth (2021)

Compendium “The future of young people’s political participation: questions, challenges and opportunities” (2020)

 Research on political participation of young people

Young women’s participation (2021)

 Animated videos (2019)

Podcast - Improving youth participation in Europe (2022)