PRESS RELEASE: Estonian Youth in a Global Context
STYLE CONSCIOUS ENTREPRENEURS EMBRACING GLOBALIZATION
Today’s youth live in an increasingly globalized world, communication channels become wider and distances become shorter, but more and more young people trust only themselves and their loved ones. This is the conclusion of the new survey ”Global Youth”, made by Kairos Future, an international futures research and strategy firm with headquarters in Stockholm. The aim of the survey is to provide companies, authorities and organizations with strategic information concerning future consumers, employees and citizens.
Quality of life and status – that’s what the young ones want
– Most young people in the world want quality of life and they choose a nice living environment to good work opportunities. However, the long-term trend is moving in the direction towards work with high status and good career opportunities, says Anna Kiefer, Director Kairos Future International and project manager of Global Youth.
The world’s youth believe it is important to get higher education. Seven out of ten 16-29 year olds want to study at university and one out of eight is going for a doctor’s degree, but they have different motivation factors. Young Scandinavians study to get a good job, while young Americans and Italians wish to make their families proud.
Young Estonians strive for status and material possessions…
In general, young Estonians are status-oriented and it is important for them to look good! They value material possessions, to have a lot of money, to be in style and have a high status job to a much greater extent than other young Europeans, especially compared to youth in Scandinavia. However, at the same time they are conscious and thrifty consumers.
… and they plan to work hard to get there!
When young Estonians are asked about what values they want to pass on to their future children, they emphasize industrial society values such as hard work, self discipline, endurance and thrift to a much greater extent than other young Europeans do. Entrepreneurship is extremely important to young Estonians compared to young Europeans in general.
Creative values such as curiosity and imagination, which are very important for young people in Scandinavia, are among the least important values for the young Estonians!
- Young Estonians know that they will need to work hard and independently to reach their goals and it is very important for them to achieve a better living standard than that of their parents, says Dr. Mats Lindgren, CEO of Kairos Future Group.
Young Estonians believe in globalization but not in God
Estonia is one of the winners in today’s global competitive economy and young Estonians are enthusiastic about globalization. They think that globalization means new opportunities both for themselves as well as for national companies. They also have a much more positive attitude towards multinational companies than young people in most other countries. Yet, all is not sunny and bright; young Estonians are aware of the flipside of the last decade’s economic development. Drug abuse, aids and pandemics are threats that Estonian youth worry about to a greater extent than average young Europeans, but similarly to other Europeans, they feel that the greatest threat of all is environmental pollution. And they do not believe in God! Together with young Swedes, the young Estonians are the least religious in Europe.
On our way to a global youth culture
Could you talk about a global youth culture, just because they buy the same clothes, watch the same TV-programs, share songs with each other, upload pictures at Flickr and share movies on Youtube? Hardly, young people differ, just like older generations, between countries and continents.
– But there are several signs of an emerging global youth culture, because young people in different countries are more similar than adults, says Mats Lindgren. In addition, youth differ the same way throughout the world. Hence, when middle-aged Indians, Americans and Swedes speak of young people as different, they have identical experiences of that “difference”.
About the survey
Kairos Future has during the period 1990-2006 surveyed and analyzed over 17 000 replies from Swedish and Scandinavian high school students aged 18-20. “Global Youth” included over 22 000 replies from 16-29 year olds and 30-50 year olds in 17 countries. They have answered questions about dreams and ambitions, what is important in life and work life, what is their ideal society and what determines their consumption patterns. The older age group is a reference sample that makes it possible to distinguish young people’s values from general contemporary values.
The survey has been conducted in collaboration with the Swedish Institute, Fondation pour l’Innovation Politique (Fondapol) in France, The Swedish Region of Södermanland, Fortum, The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in Taiwan and The Institute for Information Industry (III) in Taiwan. The data collection has been made in collaboration with Zapera.
For more information, please contact:
Sofia Johnsson, project coordinator
Tel: +46 70-531 94 74
