REPUBLIKA SLOVENIJA
aA/ STATISTIČNI URAD REPUBLIKE SLOVENIJE ^ STATISTICAL OFFICE OF THE REPUBUC OF SLOVENIA
Young People in Slovenia
Ljubljana, March 2010
Foreword
"Youth is something only young people have and which only older people can appreciate."
Agnar Mykle [1915-1994], Norwegian writer
Young people from all around the world - according to United Nations estimates there is more than one billion of them - are an important human resource for development and a key resource for innovations and positive social changes. However, a range of factors prevent the actual use of this potential, since in most countries of the world, young people are in a way not yet sufficiently recognised.
For example, young people represent a quarter of the work force in the world, but at the same time a half of the unemployed people. The labour markets experience problems in ensuring stable and perspective employment for young people, except for highly qualified people. Young people are an especially vulnerable group without adequate employment. If they have no means of subsistence, it is harder for them to receive education and basic health care, which is - as in a vicious circle - essential for their adequate employability. Therefore, young people are left behind on the way to progress instead of stepping on it and contributing to its formation, and are deprived of the advantages that are normally provided by permanent and long-term employment, such as access to wealth and income, a strong social network and a decision-making function in the family and broader community.
In its action plans, the United Nations Organisation devotes a lot of attention to young people. In its action plan of 2000, the objective was to improve conditions in ten areas: education, employment, hunger and poverty, health, environmental protection, drug abuse, juvenile delinquency, the situation of girls and young women, and effective participation of young people in the life of society and decision-making. In 1998 in Lisbon, the United Nations confirmed its commitment at the conference of ministers responsible for the field of young people, and declared August 12 International Youth Day. The International Youth Day is dedicated to informing the public of the problems of young people. On this day, young people draw attention to their place in modern society and speak about their problems in everyday life which sometimes make them feel pushed aside.
One of the most serious factors causing a lower or late participation of young people in today's society is poverty. On the International Youth Day in 2006, the "joint fight against poverty" (deliberations and activities) was emphasised; today, one in five people between 15 and 24 is forced to survive on less than one dollar a day, half of them have to survive on less than two dollars a day.
At the end of April 2009, the European Commission suggested in a strategy the amendment of youth policy for the coming decade entitled "Youth - Investing and Empowering". In this strategy, the Commission acknowledges the fact that young people are one of the most vulnerable groups in society, especially in the current economic and financial crisis, but at the same time young people are a precious resource in our ageing society. In addition, the new EU strategy for youth policy emphasizes the importance of participation of young people and sets down the measures that need to be reinforced so as to provide for better implementation of youth policy in the EU.
Along with the adopted EU strategy which actually sets out a new framework of cooperation of young people in the European Union, the European Commission published the First Youth Report, which is, in fact, a compilation of data, statistics and short analyses of the situation of young people in Europe. In September 2009 (12th-14th September 2009), a Youth Conference took place in Stockholm in the framework of the Swedish Presidency of the European Union. Around 250 young people from the whole of Europe gathered there, along with the representatives of the Ministries of the EU Member States, EFTA Member States and EU Candidate Countries, which deal with youth issues, and representatives of the European institutions. They were discussing the future of the European Youth Strategy. For the first time, young people and decision-makers cooperated in the discussion on concrete suggestions for the EU youth policy for the 2010-2018 period. The focus was especially placed on the following subjects: the high level of unemployment of young people in Europe, the transition from education to the labour market, social inclusion, and health and welfare of young girls and boys in Europe.
The fact is that at the EU level and in individual Member States there is a need for sooner and larger investment in the education of young people and the ensuring of their health, and for the improvement of the transition from education to work - along with a simultaneous adequate inclusion of young people into civil life and society as a whole.
A part of these efforts in Slovenia is also this publication. We added to the data showing the "cut-outs" from the selected fields relating to young people in Slovenia, data for the EU-27 Member States, so as to quickly establish our incorporation into the European area as regards the individual fields. In this publication we also deal with issues related to the placement of young people, their risk behaviour or the use/abuse of alcohol, tobacco and drugs, and their behaviour at the workplace and in traffic; we also deal with the mortality of young people, conditions for education or studies, possibility of additional education, their way of travel, etc.
YjJ^x ^muJ
Irena Križman Director-General
CONTENTS
Young people......................................................................................................................................9
Table 1: Age limits for defining young people, EU-27 Member States.......................................................11
The number of young people is decreasing...............................................................................13
Figure 1: Shares of young people (15-24 years), EU-27 Member States, 2008......................................... 13
Figure 2: Shares of population by broad age group, Europe, 1950-2050 ................................................. 14
Table 2: Number and shares of population by broad age group, Europe, 1950-2050 ............................ 15
Figure 3: Shares of young people (15-24 years), EU-27 Member States, 1999 and 2008 ....................... 15
Figure 4: Shares of young people (15-24 years), the EUR0P0P2008 population projection,
baseline variant, 2008-2060, EU-27 Member States, 2008 and 2060...........................................................16
Table 3: Shares of young people by broad age group, EU-27 Member States, 1999 and 2008............. 17
Figure 5: Shares of population by broad age group, EU-27 Member States, 1999.................................. 18
Figure 6: Shares of population by broad age group, EU-27 Member States, 2008.................................. 18
Figure 7: Shares of population by broad age group, EU-27 Member States, 2008.................................. 19
Figure 8: Shares and number of population (15-29 years) in Slovenia, selected years (1989-2008).......... 19
Table 4: Shares of population (15-24 years), EU-27 Member States, 1997 and 2008 ..............................20
Figure 9: Shares of young people (15-24 and 15-29) among the population of the EU-27
and Slovenia, the EUR0P0P2008 population projection, baseline variant, 2008-2060 ...........................21
Figure 10: Share and number of population (15-29 years), the EUR0P0P2008 population projection, baseline variant,
Slovenia, selected years (1989, 2008, 2010, 2020, 2030, 2040, 2050 and 2060).............................................21
Figure 11: Shares and number of population (15-24 years),
the EUR0P0P2008 population projections, low, baseline and high variants,
Slovenia, selected years (1989, 2008, 2010, 2020, 2030, 2040, 2050 and 2060)..........................................22
Figure 12: Shares and number of population (15-29 years),
the EUR0P0P2008 population projections, low, baseline and high variants,
Slovenia, selected years (1989, 2008, 2010, 2020, 2030, 2040, 2050 and 2060)..........................................23
Figure 13: Shares of young people (15-24 and 15-29), Slovenia, 2000-2008 ...........................................23
Figure 14: Decrease in the number of young people (15-24 and 15-29), Slovenia, 2000-2007.............24
Table 5: Decrease in the number of young people (15-24 and 15-29), Slovenia, 2000-2008 .................25
The low number of births in the past can not be compensated for........................................26
Figure 15: Total fertility rates, EU-27 Member States, 1996 and 2007 ........................................................26
Figure 16: Number of live-born children, Slovenia, 1954-2008 ....................................................................27
Table 6: Number of live-born children and the total fertility rate,
Slovenia, selected years (1954, 1964, 1974, 1984, 1994 and 2003-2008)....................................................28
CONTENTS
Figure 17: Mean age of mothers giving birth, Slovenia, 1954-2008 ...........................................................28
Figure 18: Mean age of mothers giving birth, EU-27 Member States, 1996 and 2006.............................29
Figure 19: Shares of children born outside marriage, EU-27 Member States, 1998 and 2007 ..............30
Table 7: Shares of live-born children born outside marriage,
Slovenia, selected years (1955, 1965, 1975, 1985, 1995 and 2005-2008)....................................................30
Figure 20: Shares of live-born children born outside marriage,
Slovenia, selected years (1955, 1965, 1975, 1985, 1995-2008)......................................................................31
The number of marriages among young people is decreasing..............................................32
Figure 21: Mean age of bride and groom at first marriage, Slovenia, 1979-2008 ...................................32
Figure 22: Marriages by age of bride, Slovenia, selected years (1970-1974, 2000-2004 and 2007)........33
Figure 23: Marriages by age of groom, Slovenia, selected years (1970-1974, 2000-2004 and 2007)......33
Population ageing is a worldwide, European and Slovene problem......................................34
Figure 24: Shares of young people (15-24 years), large regions of the world, 1950 and 2050..............34
Figure 25: Shares of population by broad age groups, EU-27 Member States, 2008 .............................35
Figure 26: Shares of population by broad age groups, EU-27 Member States, 2008 .............................36
Figure 27: Life expectancy at birth for men and women, EU-27 Member States, 2005/06......................37
Figure 28: Life expectancy at birth for men and women, Slovenia, 1958/59-2004/05 .............................38
Figure 29: Shares of the population aged 65-79 and 80+, EU-27 Member States, 2008 .......................38
Figure 30: Mean age of the population by sex, Slovenia, 1971-2008.........................................................39
The level of education is increasing generation by generation..............................................40
Figure 31: Shares of upper secondary and tertiary students by level of education,
EU-27 Member States, 2001 ................................................................................................................................40
Figure 32: Shares of upper secondary and tertiary students by level of education,
EU-27 Member States, 2007 ................................................................................................................................40
Figure 33: Shares of young people (20-24 years) with at least upper secondary education,
EU-27 Member States, 2000 and 2008 ...............................................................................................................41
Figure 34: Shares of young people (25-34 years) with tertiary education,
EU-27 Member States, 2007 ................................................................................................................................41
Figure 35: Tertiary education graduates by field of education, EU-27, 2007, and Slovenia, 2008............42
Figure 36: Population (15-24 years and 25-34 years) by level of education,
age groups and sex, Slovenia, 2008..................................................................................................................43
Figure 37: Share of women (15+) by level of education,
Slovenia, selected years (1971, 1981, 1991, 2002 and 2007).........................................................................44
Figure 38: Number of tertiary education graduates by sex,
Slovenia, selected years (1980-1993 and 1994-2008)....................................................................................45
Figure 39: Tertiary education students by age and sex, Slovenia, 1999 and 2008 ..................................46
Figure 40: Tertiary education graduates by sex, Slovenia, 1994-2008 ......................................................47
Figure 41: Shares of young people (19-23 years) included in tertiary education
by sex and academic year, Slovenia, 1997-2008 ............................................................................................47
Figure 42: Number of tertiary education graduates by field of education and sex,
Slovenia, 2008........................................................................................................................................................48
Table 8: Number of tertiary education graduates by type of programme
and field of education by sex, Slovenia, 2008 .................................................................................................49
Table 9: Number of tertiary education graduates by type of programme and university
and independent higher education institution, Slovenia, 2008....................................................................50
CONTENTS
The share of pupils enrolled in upper secondary schools is increasing...............................51
Figure 43: Number of pupils enrolled in upper secondary education programmes
by type of programmes and sex, Slovenia, end of the 2007/08 school year..............................................51
Figure 44: Number of pupils who finished upper secondary education programmes
by type of programmes and sex, Slovenia, end of the 2007/08 school year..............................................51
Table 10: Number and shares of pupils in upper secondary education programmes,
all students and those who finished education, Slovenia, end of the 2007/08 school year .................... 52
Figure 45: Share of pupils enrolled in upper secondary educational programmes
by sex, Slovenia, the schools years 1998/99 and 2008/09 .............................................................................53
More and more young people and adults are learning foreign languages..........................54
Figure 46: Average number of foreign languages learned by pupils,
EU-27 Member States, 2000 and 2005...............................................................................................................54
Table 11: Average number of foreign languages learned by pupils
in upper secondary schools and the share of pupils learning individual foreign languages,
EU-27 Member States, 2001 and 2006...............................................................................................................55
Table 12: Number of pupils, students and adults who are learning foreign languages,
Slovenia, the 2007/08 school year......................................................................................................................56
Figure 47: Share of population by mother tongue, age group and sex,
Slovenia, 2002 Census.........................................................................................................................................57
Table 13: Number of young people (15-29 years) by mother tongue and sex,
Slovenia, 2002 Census.........................................................................................................................................58
The cost of education is increasing..............................................................................................59
Figure 48: Share of public expenditure in % of GDP EU-27 Member States, 2004 and 2006.................59
Figure 49: Share of public expenditure for tertiary education in % of GDI!
EU-27 Member States, 2006 ................................................................................................................................60
Figure 50: Total expenditure for educational institutions by level of education,
Slovenia, 2005-2007 .............................................................................................................................................61
Figure 51: Private expenditure for educational institutions by level of education,
Slovenia, 2005-2007 .............................................................................................................................................62
Scholarship.......................................................................................................................................63
Figure 52: Shares of scholarship recipients (upper secondary and tertiary levels)
by type of scholarship, Slovenia, 1997 and 2007 ............................................................................................63
Table 14: Upper secondary and tertiary scholarship recipients by sex and type of scholarship,
Slovenia and EU-27, 2007 ....................................................................................................................................64
Table 15: Number and share of scholarship recipients (upper secondary and tertiary levels) by activity of the scholarship granting body, Slovenia, 2007........................................................................65
Housing situations of young people............................................................................................66
Figure 53: Shares of young people with own households living in too small apartments,
by age group, EU-27 Member States, 2003 ......................................................................................................66
Figure 54: Shares of households of young people in which the holder of the household
is 15-24 years old, by tenure status, Slovenia, 2002 Census........................................................................67
Figure 55: Shares of young people (25-35 years) by the most common form of residence,
Slovenia, 2004........................................................................................................................................................68
Figure 56: Shares of young people living in their own apartment by how they obtained their own apartment, Slovenia, 2004...................................................................................................................................69
CONTENTS
Student residences..........................................................................................................................70
Table 16: Number of student residences and the number of residents in them,
Slovenia, academic years 1998/99, 2003/4 and 2008/09................................................................................70
Figure 57: Number of student residences, Slovenia, selected years
(1985, 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2005-2009)............................................................................................................71
Figure 58: Number of residents in student residences, Slovenia, selected years
(1985, 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2005-2009)............................................................................................................72
Figure 59: Number of student residences and the number of residents in them,
Slovenia, selected years (1985, 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2005-2009)...............................................................72
Table 17: Rooms in student residences or at private legal entities registered
for the activity of student residences, Slovenia, the 2008/09 academic year.............................................73
Figure 60: Types of accommodation by age of students, Slovenia, 2006/07 .............................................73
Figure 61: Shares of young people (15-24 years) by way of arrival to and departure
from school, Slovenia, 2002 Census..................................................................................................................74
Figure 62: Shares of young people (15-24 years) by way of arrival to and departure
from the workplace, Slovenia, 2002 Census....................................................................................................75
Unemployment of young people is a general concern.............................................................76
Figure 63: Unemployment rate, EU-27 Member States, 2000 and 2008 .....................................................76
Figure 64: Unemployment rate for young people (up to 25 years),
EU-27 Member States, second quarter of 2008 and second quarter of 2009 .............................................77
Figure 65: Unemployment rate for young people by sex, EU-27 Member States, 2009 ...........................78
Figure 66: Unemployed young people (15-24 years) by duration
of unemployment and sex, Slovenia, selected years (1996, 2001 and 2008).............................................79
Figure 67: Activity level of young people (15-24 years) by age group and sex,
Slovenia, second quarters of the years 2003-2008 .........................................................................................80
Table 18: Typical groups of registered unemployed persons, Slovenia, 1998-2008 ................................81
Figure 68: Young people (18-24 years) who finished education without a qualification,
EU-27 Member States, 2002 and 2007 ...............................................................................................................81
Figure 69: Young people (18-24 years) who finished education
without a qualification by sex, EU-27 Member States, 2007 .........................................................................82
Table 19: Age structure of registered unemployed people (18-30 years), Slovenia, 2000-2008............83
At the 2002 Census, 300,000 young people (15-29 years) lived in families...........................84
Figure 70: Families by type and age of wife, partner or mother, Slovenia, 2002 Census.......................84
Figure 71: Families by type and age of husband, partner or father, Slovenia, 2002 Census................85
Figure 72: Families by age group of husband, partner or father and wife,
partner or mother, Slovenia, 2002 Census........................................................................................................86
Figure 73: Families by age group of married couples with children
and by sex of the spouse, Slovenia, 2002 Census..........................................................................................86
Figure 74: Families by age group of married couples without children
and by sex of the spouse, Slovenia, 2002 Census..........................................................................................87
Figure 75: Families by age group of unmarried partners with children
and by sex of the spouse, Slovenia, 2002 Census..........................................................................................87
Figure 76: Families by age group of unmarried partners without children
and by sex of the spouse, Slovenia, 2002 Census..........................................................................................88
Figure 77: Single-parent families by age group of father and mother, Slovenia, 2002 Census............88
Figure 78: Children (15-29 years) who live in families with their parents, Slovenia, 2002 Census......89
Figure 79: Children who live in families by age group, Slovenia, 2002 Census......................................89
CONTENTS
Research and development activity in Slovenia........................................................................91
Figure 80: R&D expenditure as % of GDI? EU-27, 2007 .................................................................................91
Figure 81: Researchers by sector of employment and age group, Slovenia, 2007 ..................................92
(Un)health of young people...........................................................................................................93
Figure 82: Share of non-smokers, occasional and daily smokers (15-24 years)
among residents, EU-27 Member States, 1993-2003......................................................................................94
Figure 83: Daily smokers among all residents by sex, EU-27 Member States, 2003 ...............................95
Figure 84: Daily smokers (15-24 years) among residents by sex, EU-27 Member States, 2003 ............96
Figure 85: Regular and occasional smokers and non-smokers by age, Slovenia, 2007.........................97
Figure 86: Alcohol drinking habits of young people, EU-27 Member States, 2003 ..................................98
Figure 87: Consumption of a litre of pure alcohol per person aged 15+,
EU-27 Member States, selected years (1970, 1990 and 2003).......................................................................99
Figure 88: Registered consumption of pure alcohol per person aged 15+, Slovenia, 1999-2007 ...... 100
Figure 89: Frequency of drinking of any alcoholic beverage
in the past 12 months by sex, Slovenia, 2007 ................................................................................................ 102
Figure 90: Shares of drug-related deaths by age, EU-27 Member States, 2006..................................... 103
Figure 91: Average age of people who died because of drugs, EU-27 Member States, 2006............. 103
Figure 92: Shares of drug-related deaths by sex, EU-27 Member States, 2006...................................... 104
Figure 93: Obese population, EU-27 Member States, 2003 ........................................................................ 105
Figure 94: Opinion of young people about their health status, Slovenia, 2007...................................... 106
Figure 95: Average body height of young people and people
belonging to other broad age groups, Slovenia, 2007................................................................................. 107
Figure 96: "Nourishment" of young people by the body mass index, Slovenia, 2007 ........................... 107
Figure 97: Male and female upper secondary school pupils with appropriate
body weight, Slovenia, selected years (1983, 1993, 2003)........................................................................... 108
Figure 98: Injuries at work per 1000 employees by age and sex, Slovenia, 2008 .................................. 109
Tourist travels of young people in Slovenia..............................................................................111
Figure 99: Participation of Slovene residents in tourist travels by age, Slovenia, 2006 and 2008 ...... 111
Risk of poverty in young people.................................................................................................112
Figure 100: Population by at-risk-of-poverty rate (without income in kind)
by age group, Slovenia, selected years (2005, 2006 and 2007).................................................................. 112
Table 20: Poverty indicators by age and sex, Slovenia, 2007..................................................................... 113
SOME THOUGHTS INSTEAD OF A CONCLUSION..................................................................114
STATISTICAL SIGNS.....................................................................................................................117
ABBREVATIONS AND ACRONYMS.............................................................................................117
DEFINITIONS OF SOME TERMS USED.....................................................................................119
SOURCES AND LITERATURE.......................................................................................................123
LIST OF COUNTRIES: NAMES AND ABBREVIATIONS (ISO 3166).........................................125
Issued and published by the Statistical Office of Republic of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Vožarski pot 12 - Use and publication of data is allowed provided the source is acknowledged - Director-General Irena Križman - Author Petronela Vertot - Editor of the Brochure collection Marina Urbas - Translated by Panteon College Maribor and Boris Panič -Designed by Dušan Weiss and Ada Poklač - Print run 330 copies - Printed by Janus
CIP - Kataložni zapis o publikaciji Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica, Ljubljana 314-053.6(497.4) VERTOT, Nelka
Young people in Slovenia / [author Petronela Vertot ; translated by Panteon College and Boris Panič]. - Ljubljana : Statistični urad Republike Slovenije = Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, 2010
ISBN 978-961-239-199-7
1. Gl. stv. nasl 250307840
Young people
Young people are a special part of Slovene society. They are a group that reflects the past demographic trends, as well as the past and future social trends of economic indicators. The regulatory framework of Slovene youth policy is still being prepared.
The youth policies in European countries are recognised as intersectoral, integrated policies which are based on the needs thereof. The goal of youth policies is the creation of adequate living conditions for young people so as to provide for their adequate participation in public life and a joint creation (along with other social groups) of the social, the cultural and the political life of societies.
In 1995, the UN General Assembly adopted a range of recommendations in this field that encouraged many countries to start preparing their national youth policies. In many European countries, youth strategies found inspiration in the Resolution of the Council of Europe, issued on 16th April 1998 in the White Paper of the European Commission on Youth (A New Impetus for European Youth) of 2001.
The 20th century could also be named the century of youth since it marked the establishment of youth and its important role in the development of society. Never before has the role of the young generation been so interesting nor have young people ever brought into effect such significant cultural and civilisation changes as in the past century and acquired such confidence and demonstrated extreme dedication and will for social changes.
It seems that upon entering into a new millennium the role of young people is diminishing (and not just their percentage from the demographic point of view), that young people are melting with other social groups and also with other generations because of the accelerated process of population ageing. According to M. Ule (2002), young people frequently fall back on the comfort of extended social childhood which young people intensively resisted in the 1960s and 1970s. Today, young people seem to be more socially, culturally and life unformed and are slowly taking over a similar social status as the status of stigmatised minorities.
Any nation that wants to achieve positive growth in economic, cultural, social, demographic and other fields has to look forward into the future. The modern era is in desperate need of a driving force for development, i.e. young people, who need assurance with concrete actions that countries and societies are aware of the importance of the successful development of the young generation as the latter will be the cornerstone of society.
Youth is a period of life from childhood to maturity, whereby the expression "youth" usually marks all young people who are in this period. In traditional society, young people did not exist as a separate social group, since they were already included in working life in early childhood and children automatically became adults as soon as they made a living. Along with the technological development of society, the need for a qualified labour force increased; this caused the massive education of young people and the related "postponement" of the entry of young people into working life. Opinions of sociologists differ as regards the definition of the expression "young people" and also as regards the age limit that this expression represents. Some believe that young people are people aged between 15 and 25, others extend this period to 30, some even to 35.
Young people
The expression "youth" usually marks the period of life of an individual who transforms from a child to an adult, or a period which gradually prepares individuals to play important social roles which define adulthood. Youth as a sociological notion is divided into three periods:
■	adolescence, classical youth: from 14 to 19;
■	post-adolescence or late youth: from 20 to 24;
■	early adulthood: typical for (not yet independent) young people between 25 and 29. We belong to the group of young people for about 15 years, but young people are perceived differently in professional debates. People often mistake or equate this group with children, upper secondary school pupils or university students and thus automatically exclude the most vulnerable groups of young people: young unemployed people, those without the status of university student or upper secondary school pupil, and young employed people to whom employment does not yet provide for their independence. In general, young people cannot most appropriately be defined by years and age although this is the most common practice. If we want to define young people and other notions related to them, we must first delimit young people by age.
The United Nations usually use the definition of "young people" that was formed in 1985 in the International Youth Year and includes all people from 15 do 24. The Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia as well as some other European countries define young people as people aged between 15 and 29.
There is no clear definition of young people or youth as it is a period of life marked by transition. Numerous authors define youth as an intermediary level in life, a period between childhood and adulthood, and according to this, young people were frequently defined as people in "transition from dependence in childhood to independence in adulthood". This period includes three main "transitions":
■	the transition from school to work (the end of education and the entry in the labour market);
■	the transition from economic dependence to economic independence and self-sufficiency;
■	the transition from home (from source family) to own home (creating own family). Searching for a common European and worldwide definition of young people is thus
not an easy task since merely considering the "age limit" does not provide for the adequate indication of the transition of people to adulthood. Other auxiliary information that marks the maturity of young people or "essential turning points in adulthood" as well as age limits differ substantially among countries and can hardly be measured and compared: for example, the end of compulsory education, the voting age, the minimum age for candidacy in an election, etc., and the age when young people become financially independent (this age is being extended in most European countries, especially due to education, problems in finding first employment and fewer possibilities for acquiring affordable dwellings).
As mentioned above, European countries are not in agreement as regards the age delimitation of people who should still be included in the group of young people, but they mainly agree that the upper age limit should not exceed 30 years.
Young people
Table 1: Age limits for defining young people, EU-27 Member States
Country	"Age limit" (years) for defining youth or young people
EU-27	15-25 (open do 30)
Austria	13-30; 0-30
Belgium	0-25
Bulgaria	16-30
Cyprus	12 (16]-25 [30]
Czech Republic	15-26; 18-26
Germany	15-24 / 27
Denmark	15-25
Estonia	7-26
Spain	14-30
Finland	3-30
France	15-26
Greece	15-30
Hungary	15-29
Ireland	10-25
Italy	15-25/30
Lithuania	16-29
Luxemburg	12-26
Latvia	16-29; 3-30; 15-25
Malta	18-30
Netherlands; "Flemings"	0-25; 3-30
Poland	15-25
Portugal	15-25/30
Romania	15-35
Sweden	13-25
Slovenia	14-27; 15-29
Slovakia	13-30; 15-26
United Kingdom	10-25
Source [for most countries): T. Divjak, P. Šporar: COMPARATIVE LEGAL ANAYSIS OF YOUTH LEGISLATION IN EUROPE [PRIMERJALNO PRAVNA ANALIZA MLADINSKE ZAKONODAJE V EVROPI), Ljubljana, 2005; http: www.ursm.gov.si/si/ zakonodaja_in_dokumenti/. Several other sources were also taken into account.
Laws and programming documents that concern young people in European countries usually state certain time values when defining young people [age in years). On the basis of information collected from several sources, the average age limit of young people in Europe could be placed between 15 and 29 and could at least approximately be limited by the time in which young people in most of these countries complete compulsory education and [can] achieve high education. A lot of such documents place the age limit very low [3 or 7 years] in some countries; in this period we usually place children that
Young people
have not yet reached a level of maturity necessary to be actively making decisions. A very important part of the involvement of young people is their participation in decision-making processes.
In this publication we present young people "in figures" in different development periods and in various circumstances but we mostly present people between 15 and 24 (15-29), which is in the opinion of most analysts of this period of life the time from the end of childhood to "adulthood". At the same time we must consider the fact that in the past the age of 18 represented a logical transition into adulthood and thus into independence but today this is not the case. The mean age of a mother giving birth to her firstborn child is rapidly getting close to 30. In addition, the transition from the young age to working life - usually marked with moving away from home - has also extended to the age of 30 (or over). Based on the research of the Student Organisation of the University of Ljubljana (2004) on the housing issue of young people in Slovenia in 2004, 75% of people between 25 and 29 live in a common household with their parents.
The number of young people is decreasing
Figure 1: Shares of young people (15-24 years), EU-27 Member States, 2008
%
16-, m
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■	The population "situation" is a result of different factors, such as fertility, life expectancy at birth and migration flows. The current levels of the latter in EU Member States show that by 2050 we will witness large demographic changes. These will especially result in a strong decrease in the share of young people and in the ageing of the population in Europe: between 2004 and 2050 the average age should increase from 39 to 49.
■	The last youth report of the UN (World Youth Report 2007) assesses that there are approximately 1.2 billion young people aged 15-24 worldwide and draws attention to the importance of young people as a positive force of development. This great number of people represents an important human resource for development and positive social changes since young people represent a quarter of the world's workforce and also a half of all unemployed people worldwide; young people with no appropriate employment are especially vulnerable since they are literally condemned to poverty; it is hard for them to receive education and basic health care without the means of subsistence, which is - as in a vicious circle - the basic condition for their adequate employability and earnings that could help them overcome poverty.
■	Almost 85% of young people live in developing countries; 60% in Asia and 10% in Europe. Despite the large urbanisation of the world, the majority of young people live in rural areas, in Sub-Saharan Africa, South-East, South and Central Asia and Oceania. In its resolution on youth in 2000 (Policies and Programmes Involving Youth, A/RES/54/120), the UN General Assembly laid down ten priority areas related to young people: the first is education, followed by employment, hunger and poverty, health, environment, drug abuse, juvenile delinquency, problems between the sexes and leisure-time activities.
The number of young people is decreasing
■ The present generations of young people in Europe live in a time of rapid changes in economic and technological conditions. Especially in the time of economic crisis, when often there is a lack of workplaces for everybody, young people often have to wait for entry into working life after the completion of their education. Therefore, young people frequently conclude contracts for fixed-term employment, work with flexible working hours and even work in other countries. At the same time it is important that young people have all these possibilities considering the young generations before them which, in most European countries, could only dream about them.
Figure 2: Shares of population by broad age group, Europe, 1950-2050
% 80-
60-
40
20-
In
I I 0-14 □ 15-64 □ 65+ n 75+
Source: International Institute for Applied Systems Analyses; http://www.iiasa.ac.at 1st October 2009
■	Based on the first demographic estimates published by Eurostat on 22nd June 2009, there were 499.7 million people living in the EU-27 on 1st January 2009, which is 2.2 million more than on 1st January 2008. According to these estimates, three quarters of the population increase were a result of migration, especially to the following countries: to Ireland (an increase by 14.1 persons per 1000 population), Slovenia (12.6), Luxemburg (11.9), Cyprus (11.7) and Spain (10.2); then the net migratory flow in these countries was the strongest; residents from Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland emigrated in a larger extent than people immigrated to these countries.
■	The largest regions of the world in which the size of the population will substantially decrease will also include the area of EU-27. According to the EUROPOP2008 population projections, the population of EU-27 will substantially decrease to 506 million by 2060 after reaching its peak of 523 million people in 2035. Based on these projections, there will be 1,768,000 people living in Slovenia by 2060.
The number of young people is decreasing
Table 2: Number and shares of population by broad age group, Europe, 1950-2050
Population (number in 1,000)	% of total population
Years	1950 1970 1995 2025 2050 1950 1970 1995 2025 2050
TOTAL 547,318	656,441 727,912	702,335	627,691	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
0-14 years 143,175	166,367 139,464	103,212	90,430	26.2	25.3	19.2	14.7	14.4
15-64 years 359,162	421,432 487,1 10	451,599	364,277	65.6	64.2	66.9	64.3	58.0
65+ 44,981	68,642 101,338	147,524	172,985	8.2	10.5	13.9	21.0	27.6
75+ 14,553	22,762 38,139	63,663	91,343	2.7	3.5	5.2	9.1	14.6
Source: International Institute for Applied Systems Analyses; http://www.iiasa.ac.at 1st October 2009
Figure 3: Shares of young people (15-24 years), EU-27 Member States11, 1999 and 2008
20-,
16
12-q
IT GR ES DE FT DK LU BE NL AT SI Fl FX HU CZ SE BG UK IE MT RO IS EE SK CY PL LV LT
countries
□ 1999 I I 2008	EU-27 1999 = 13.3 - EU-27 2008 = 12.4
Source: Eurostat
■	In the EU-27, almost every eighth resident is young, i.e. 15-24-years old; in 2008, 12.4% of the population were old in the EU-27. That year there were 250,200 young people living in Slovenia and their percentage was equal to the percentage in the EU-27 (12.4%).
■	Among EU-27 Member States the percentage of young people was the lowest in Spain (11.2%) and Italy (10.2%) where only every tenth resident belonged to the group of young people; the highest percentages were recorded in Lithuania (15.9%), Latvia (15.6%) and Poland (15.5%).
1) Eurostat calculated all data for the time before 2007 for all EU-27 Member States for the purpose of easier comparison and presentation.
The number of young people is decreasing
■	In 2008, the natural population growth among the EU Member States was the largest in Ireland, i.e. 12.0 per 1000 population, which is a lot more than in France (4.5), Luxemburg (4.3), Cyprus (3.9) and the United Kingdom (3.6).
■	In 2008, eight EU Member States experienced negative natural growth; the largest decrease was observed in Bulgaria ( 4.8 per 1000 population), followed by Latvia (-3.2), Hungary (-3.1), Lithuania (-2.6) and Germany (-2.0). Slovenia experienced a natural growth of 0.9 people per 1000 population.
■	In 2008, 4.8 million people died in the EU-27 Member States, which was 9.7 persons per 1000 population. The largest mortality rate was observed in Bulgaria (14.2), followed by Latvia (14.0), Lithuania (13.2) and Hungary (13.0). The lowest mortality rate was observed in Ireland (6.1), followed by Cyprus (6.6), Luxemburg (6.9) and Malta (7.7.); in Slovenia, 9.1 persons per 1000 population died.
■	Since 1997, the percentage of young people has decreased in the majority (18) of the EU-27 Member States (by 1.2 percentage points in the EU-27), the most in Spain (by 4.8 percentage points) and in Portugal (by 4.1 percentage points). In Finland, the percentage of young people in this period did not change, while in nine EU-27 Member States their percentage increased, the most in Latvia (by 2.1 percentage points) and in Lithuania (by 1.9 percentage points).
Figure 4: Shares of young people (15-24 years), the EUROPOP2008 population projection,
baseline variant, 2008-2060, EU-27 Member States, 2008 and 2060
%
16-,
12--
M
fl
LT LV PL CY SK EE RO IE MT UK BG SE CZ HU FX Fl SI AT BE NL LU DK PT DE GR ES IT
countries
I I 2008 □ 2060	EU-27 2008 = 12.4 - EU-27 2060 = 10.0
Source: Eurostat, EUROPOP2008, convergence scenario
■ According to the results of the Eurostat EUROPOP2008 projections, the percentage of young people in all Member States will decrease by 2060 Iin the entire EU-27 area by 2.4 percentage points). The percentage of young people will decrease the most, i.e. by more than 5 percentage points, in Lithuania and Poland (by 7 percentage points), Slovakia
The number of young people is decreasing
(by 6.9 percentage points), Latvia (by 6.3 percentage points) and Romania (by 5.9 percentage points). The percentage of young people will decrease in Denmark (by 0.5 of a percentage point) and in Luxemburg (by 0.6 percentage points).
■ In 2060, when young people will represent 10.0% of the population in the EU-27, the highest percentage of young people will be in Ireland (11.7%), France (11.5%) and Luxemburg, Denmark and the United Kingdom (11.2%) and the lowest percentage will be in Slovakia (8.4%), Poland (8.5%) and Romania (8.6%). By then, the percentage of young people in Slovenia will presumably be 9.6%.
Table 3: Shares of young people1) by broad age group, EU-27 Member States, 1999 and 2008
1999
2008
	0-14 years	15-24 years 25-64 years		65+	0-14 years	15-24 years 25-64 years		65+
EU-27	17.5	13.3	53.8	15.4	15.7	12.4	54.8	17.0
IT	14.4	12.4	55.4	17.8	14.0	10.2	55.8	20.1
GR	15.9	14.6	53.3	16.2	14.3	11.2	55.9	18.7
ES	15.2	15.3	53.2	16.5	14.6	11.2	57.5	16.6
DE	15.8	11.1	57.1	15.9	13.7	11.6	54.6	20.1
PT	16.5	15.1	52.6	15.8	15.3	11.6	55.6	17.4
DK	18.2	12	54.9	14.8	18.4	11.7	54.3	15.6
LU	18.8	11.3	55.6	14.3	18.2	11.8	56.0	14.0
NL	18.5	12	55.9	13.5	17.9	12.1	55.3	14.8
BE	17.7	12.2	53.5	16.7	16.9	12.1	53.9	17.1
AT	17.3	12	55.3	15.4	15.3	12.3	55.3	17.1
FI	18.4	12.7	54.1	14.7	16.9	12.4	54.2	16.5
SI	16.6	14.8	55.0	13.6	13.9	12.4	57.6	16.2
FX	19.2	13.2	52.0	15.6	18.5	12.7	52.6	16.3
HU	17.2	15.3	52.7	14.9	15.0	12.7	56.1	16.2
SE	18.6	11.7	52.3	17.4	16.8	13.0	52.6	17.5
CZ	17.0	16.0	53.3	13.7	14.2	13.0	58.2	14.6
BG	16.3	14.7	53.1	15.9	13.4	13.1	56.2	17.3
UK	19.3	12.1	52.8	15.8	17.6	13.4	52.9	16.1
MT	20.8	15.2	52.0	11.9	16.2	14,1	55.8	13.8
IE	22.3	17.2	49.2	11.3	20.6	14.1	54.4	10.9
RO	19.3	15.8	51.8	13.1	15.2	14.6	55.2	14.9
EE	18.9	14.2	52.2	14.7	14.8	15.2	52.8	17.2
SK	20.4	17.2	51.1	11.4	15.8	15.3	56.9	12.0
CY	23.4	15.2	50.3	11.1	17.4	15.4	54.7	12.5
PL	20.3	16.7	51.1	11.9	15.5	15.5	55.6	13.5
LV	18.7	14.0	52.7	14.7	13.8	15.6	53.5	17.2
Source:	Eurostat							
1 Data for EU-27 Member States are arranged according to values for young people (15-24 years) for 2008 in ascending order.
%
The number of young people is decreasing Figure 5: Shares of population by broad age group, EU-27 Member States, 1999
% 60
50
40
30
20
10
EU-27 DE LU SE DK NL AT UK BE IT Fl FX LV LT EE GR BG SI FT CY MT ES HU IS RO CZ PL IE SK
countries
I I 0-14 □ 15-24 □ 25-64 □ 65+
Source: Eurostat
Figure 6: Shares of population by broad age group, EU-27 Member States, 2008
% 60
50
40
30
20
10
EU-27 IT GR ES DE FT DK LU BE NL AT SI Fl FX HU CZ SE BG UK IE MT RO EE SK CY PL LV LT
countries
I I 0-14 EH 15-24 CH 25-64 EH 65+
Source: Eurostat
The number of young people is decreasing Figure 7: Shares of population by broad age group, EU-27 Member States, 2008
100-,
80--
60--
40--
20--
EU-27 IT GR ES DE FT DK LU BE NL AT SI Fl FR HU CZ SE BG UK IE MT RO EE SK CY PL LV LT
countries
I | 0-14 □ 15-24 □ 25-49 □ 50-64 □ 65-79 ■ 100+
Source: Eurostat
Figure 8: Shares and number of population (15-29 years) in Slovenia, selected years (1989-2008)
1989 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 2000 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 2008
years
^ number of young people (15-29 years) — % of young people (15-29 years)
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
The number of young people is decreasing Table 4: Shares of population (15-24 years), EU-27 Member States1121, 1997 and 2008
Population (15-24 years) %	growth rate in percentage points number in 1,000
Country	1997	2008	1997-2008	2008
EU-27	13.6	12.4	-1.2	62,333.0
IT	13.3	10.2	-3.1	6,082.4
GR	14.9	11.2	-3.7	1,253.7
ES	16.0	11.2	-4.8	5,070.5
DE	11.0	11.6	0.6	9,498.5
PT	15.7	11.6	-4.1	1,236.0
DK	12.8	11.7	-1.1	638.1
LU	11.5	11.8	0.3	57.1
BE	12.5	12.1	-0.4	1,292.8
NL	12.5	12.1	-0.4	1,982.5
AT	12.2	12.3	0.1	1,022.1
SI	15.0	12.4	-2.6	250.2
FI	12.4	12.4	0.0	659.2
HU	15.6	12.7	-2.9	1,273.3
FX	13.6	12.7	-0.9	7,766.7
CZ	16.5	13.0	-3.5	1,346.2
SE	12.1	13.0	0.9	1,194.6
BG	14.7	13.1	-1.6	998.4
UK	12.3	13.4	1.1	81,460.4
IE	17.5	14.1	-3.4	621.9
MT	14.9	14.1	-0.8	58.0
RO	15.9	14.6	-1.3	3,150.4
EE	13.8	15.2	1.4	203.5
SK	17.1	15.3	-1.8	826.8
CY	14.8	15.4	0.6	121.6
PL	16.1	15.5	-0.6	5,907.7
LV	13.5	15.6	2.1	353.5
LT	14.0	15.9	1.9	534.8
" Data for EU-27 and the UK are for 2007.
2) Data for EU-27 Member States are arranged according to the values for 2008 in the ascending order. Source: Eurostat
■ In the last eleven years, the percentage of young people in Slovenia decreased by 2.6 percentage points (from 15.0% to 12.4%) and will presumably continue to decrease in the future. In 2008, the share of young people (15-29 years) was 19.4%.
The number of young people is decreasing
Figure 9: Shares of young people (15-24 and 15-29) among the population of the EU-27 and Slovenia, the EUROPOP2008 population projection, baseline variant, 2008-2060
ooorM^-vDooo^OiN'^iOooOfvj^^OcoorN'sriOEOOfS^iOOOO
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo NrN(N<NNrN(NrN(NrM(NrM(NNrNrMfNOINrM(NNN(N(NNNN
EU-27 15-24 years
. S115-24 years
EU-27 15-29 years
years .S115-29 years
Source: Eurostat, EUR0P0P2008, convergence scenario
Figure 10: Share and number of population (15-29 years), the EUR0P0P2008 population projection, baseline variant, Slovenia, selected years (1989, 2008, 2010, 2020, 2030, 2040, 2050 and 2060)
number (1000) 500-,
400-
300-
200 —
100-
i> of the Slovene population -25
9 SUBS
20
15
—10
— 5
1989 2008 2010 2020 2030 2040 2050 2060
years
^ number of young people (15-29 years) ■
Source: Eurostat, EUR0P0P2008, convergence scenario
i of young people (15-29 years)
The number of young people is decreasing
Figure 11: Shares and number of population (15-24 years), the EUROPOP2008 population projections, low, baseline and high variants, Slovenia, selected years (1989, 2008, 2010, 2020, 2030, 2040, 2050 and 2060)
number (1,000)	% of the Slovene population
years / years of projection
15-24%-low	- 15-24 %-baseline	— 15-24%-high
n 15-24 number - low n 15-24 number - baseline n 15-24 number - high
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, Eurostat, EUROPOP2008, convergence scenario
■	The future of Slovenia is, as the future of the majority of European countries, marked by an increased population ageing. Although the population of Slovenia is slowly increasing, the number and percentage of young people are decreasing. In 2006, young people (15-29 years) in Slovenia represented more than one fifth of the population; however, according to the baseline variant of the EUR0P0P2008 population projections, we can expect that the percentage of young people will soon be less than one fifth; in the next twenty years their percentage will presumably decrease to 15%. According to the 1981 population census, young people in Slovenia represented almost one quarter of the population (almost 460,000 residents).
■	In Slovenia the number of young people is decreasing, whereas the number of older people is increasing. Between 31 December 2007 and 31 December 2008, the size of the population in Slovenia increased (by more than 22,000) but especially on account of older people, since in the same period, the number of young people (aged between 15 and 29) decreased by almost 5,000 (-4,748).
The number of young people is decreasing
Figure 12: Shares and number of population (15-29 years), the EUROPOP2008 population projections, low, baseline and high variants, Slovenia, selected years (1989, 2008, 2010, 2020, 2030, 2040, 2050 and 2060)
number (1,000) 500 -,
400-
300-
200-
100-
% of the Slovene population -25
S SURS
20
fl-
--15
--10
__5
1989 2008 2010 2020 2030 2040 2050 2060
years / years of projection
15-24%-low	- 15-24%-baseline	- 15-24%-high
□ 15-24 number - low □ 15-24 number - baseline □ 15-24 number - high
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia and Eurostat, EUROPOP2008, convergence scenario
Figure 13: Shares of young people (15-24 and 15-29), Slovenia, 2000-2008
25-,
20-
15-
10--
5--
2008 years
I I 15-24 years d| 15-29 years
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
The number of young people is decreasing
■	Since 2000, the number of young people (residents of Slovenia aged between 15 and 29) has been decreasing. The largest decrease was observed in 2006 when the percentage of this generation decreased by 6,592 (from 415,044 to 408,452). Since 1990, the number of young people in Slovenia has decreased by more than 45,000. In the coming years, this trend will continue provided that no substantial immigration of young people takes place.
■	The age structure of the Slovene population also changes with migration but this has little impact on the situation of young people. Among foreign immigrants in Slovenia the majority were younger men; in 2008, their mean age was just under 33.
■	Since 1995, the majority of foreign immigrants were men, whereas in other EU Member States the distribution of foreign immigrants by sex was more proportionate. In 2008, the majority of foreign immigrants in Slovenia were also men, i.e. 80% of all foreign immigrants.
■	In 2008, 12,109 people (7,343 foreigners and 4,776 Slovene citizens) emigrated from Slovenia. The foreigners mostly return to their country of origin (countries on the territory of former Yugoslavia), whereas Slovene citizens mostly emigrate to other EU Member States.
Figure 14: Decrease in the number of young people (15-24 and 15-29), Slovenia, 2000-2007
number
„	©suns
-1,500--
-3,000--
-4,500
-6,000
-7,500 J
2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
years
I I 15-24 years □ 15-29 years
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
The number of young people is decreasing
Table 5: Decrease in the number of young people (15-24 and 15-29), Slovenia, 2000-2008
		2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
15-	2	-3,599	-4,837	-4,266	-4,271	-7,002	-6,483	-6,362	-5,075	-521
15-	29	-1,015	-2,303	-3,285	-2,830	-5,885	-5,439	-6,592	-4,053	1,757
11 Data for 2008 are calculated according to the 1996 definition for population. Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
■	The future of Slovenia and that of the majority of European countries will be marked by an accelerating ageing of population (with the decreasing number and percentage of young people) although the size of the Slovene population is currently increasing. Between 1989 and 2006, when young people represented more than one fifth of the population, the number of young people decreased by almost 43,000: more specifically by 15,584 men (or a decrease by 36.6%) and by 26,946 women (a decrease by 63.4%).
■	In the coming years an even larger decrease is expected but it will probably be somewhat offset by immigration.
■	In recent years, the natural growth in Slovenia has been positive; whereas a long-term forecast of the Slovene demographics is alarming. Although the size of the population is slowly increasing, the percentage of young people is decreasing. Forecasts show that in 20 years the percentage of young people will decrease from more than 20% (which is the percentage in 2007) to 14%.
■	According to the EUR0P0P2008 population projections for Slovenia we can soon expect that the percentage of young people will be less than one fifth of the population and that it will drop to 14% in the next 20 years. The percentage of young people in Slovenia in the last 50 years compared to other age groups of population was the highest at the time of the 1981 population census.
The low number of births in the past can not be compensated for Figure 15: Total fertility rates, EU-2711 Member States, 1996 and 2007
number of children per woman in the fertility period 2.5-,
1.5-
1 —
0.5.
EU-27 BE SK RO PL HU PT IT LT DE MT AT SI CY ES GR LV BG CZ LU EE NL Fl DK UK SE FR IE
countries
I I 1996 □ 2007
" Instead of data for 1996, the provided data for the EU-27 and LV are for 2002; 2000 for DE; 1998 for FR. Instead of data for 2007 the provided data for BE are an estimate.
Source: Eurostat
■	With 10.0 live-born children per 1000 population in 1992, Slovenia had one of the lowest fertility rates among European countries. European comparisons show that the demographics are also non-promising in the majority of other countries but in most EU-27 Member States the total fertility rates are higher than in Slovenia.
■	According to Eurostat estimates, 5.4 million live-born children in the EU-27 were born in 2008, which is 10.8 live-born children per 1000 population. The highest fertility rates were recorded in Ireland (18.1), the United Kingdom (13.0), France (12.9), Estonia (12.2), Sweden (11.9) and Denmark (11.8 live-born children per 1000 population). The lowest fertility rates were observed in Germany (8.3), Malta and Austria (9.2), Bulgaria (9.4), and Italy and Portugal (9.6 live-born children per 1000 population).
■	Data on fertility behaviour in EU-27 Member States show that low fertility rates are typical of the countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007. The total fertility rates in those countries were on average between 1.24 (Slovakia) and 1.47 (Cyprus) for women in childbearing age, i.e. between 15 and 49. The highest total fertility rates are typical for Northern and Western countries of EU-27, i.e. between 1.6 and 2.0. In 2006, the highest total fertility rates in the EU-27 were recorded in France (2.0) and Ireland (1.9); the lowest fertility rates were observed in Slovakia (1.24), Poland (1.27) and in Slovenia, Lithuania and Romania (1.31 each).
The low number of births in the past can not be compensated for Figure 16: Number of live-born children, Slovenia, 1954-2008
years
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
■	In 2008, the number of live-born children in Slovenia exceeded 21,000 for the first time since 1991. 21,817 live-born children were born (11,126 boys and 10,691 girls) or 10% or 1,994 live-born children more than a year before. Since 2003, when the number of live-born children in Slovenia was the lowest since 1954, the number has been gradually increasing. In 2008, 10.8 children were born per 1000 population (9.8 in 2007 and 8.7 in 2003).
■	Due to the insignificant number of children born in Slovenia in the past number of years, there will also be "a lack" of young people in the following period. The trend of the reduction in the number of births in the decades before the break of a new millennium (with a positive change for the better in recent years) shows that the number of young people will continue to decrease in the future as due to the extremely low fertility rate in the past the "shortage" cannot be replaced in just a few years.
The low number of births in the past can not be compensated for
Table 6: Number of live-born children and the total fertility rate, Slovenia, selected years (1954, 1964, 1974, 1984, 1994 and 2003-2008)
Live-born children
Years	number	per 1000 residents	Total fertility rate
1954	31,828	20.9	2.58
1964	29,184	17.9	2.32
1974	28,625	16.0	2.10
1984	26,274	13.5	1.75
1994	19,463	9.8	1.32
2003	17,321	8.7	1.20
2004	17,961	9.0	1.25
2005	18,157	9.1	1.26
2006	18,932	9.4	1.31
2007	19,823	9.8	1.38
2008	21,817	10.8	1.53
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
■ The value of the total fertility rate, i.e. an indicator that shows the average number of live-born children per woman in childbearing age (at the current fertility rate and on the assumption that the woman will live to the age of 49), was 1.53 for 2008, which is the highest value of this indicator in Slovenia in the past 20 years. Nevertheless, due to the consequences of unfavourable demographic trends in the past number of decades, the Slovene population is experiencing low reproduction.
Figure 17: Mean age of mothers giving birth, Slovenia, 1954-2008
years of age 32
30
28
26
24
22

■JlDCOOlNtlOCOOrMTUCOONTacOOlN^lflCO
LninunkDiD«3koiDr^p^r*«.r^p^oooooooooocncnc7icncn
mean age of a mother giving birth - all births — mean age of a mother giving birth - first births
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
O Ol ^ ID CO O O O O O o o o o o
n (n n (n n
years
The low number of births in the past can not be compensated for
■ Although the fertility rate in Slovenia has increased to a certain extent since 2003, women in Slovenia have fewer children compared to the past number of decades and decide for motherhood at a later period in their lives. The number of mothers giving birth for the first time before the age of 25 is decreasing; the number of mothers giving birth after the age of 30, however, is increasing (mothers are no longer "young"). In 2008 the "postponing of motherhood" to the later period did not stop, since in this year the mean age of a mother giving birth was 30. The mean age of mothers giving birth to a first-born was 28.4 (both values represent the highest mean age of this type after the World War II in Slovenia).
Figure 18: Mean age of mothers giving birth, EU-2711 Member States, 1996 and 2006
years of age
40-
30-
20
10-
BG RO LT LV SK PL EE HU CZ AU UK FT DE SI FR CY GR LU Fl DK SE NL IE IT ES BE
countries
I I 1996
2006
" No data for MT, no data for BE for 2006; for SK and the UK data are for 1997; for FR data are for 1998 and for IT
data are for 2005. Source: Eurostat
■ The increase in the mean age of (all) women giving birth is not only a characteristic of Slovenia; in the past decade the age increased in all of the other EU-27 Member States. The age increased more than in Slovenia (by 2.35 years) in the Czech Republic (in each by 2.82 years), Estonia (by 2.57 years) and Italy (by 2.4 years), and less in Latvia and Hungary (by 2.23 years) and in Slovakia (by 1.91 years); the smallest increase was recorded in Bulgaria (by 0.23 years), the Netherlands (by 0.44 years) and France (by 0.46 years), and in Ireland (by 0.47 years), where, with the exception of Bulgaria, the mean age of mothers giving birth was 30.
The low number of births in the past can not be compensated for
Figure 19: Shares of children born outside marriage, EU-27 Member States, 1998 and 2007
%
© SURS
												
												
												
												
d	[[											
GR CY PL IT MT RO ES SK LU LT DE IE PT CZ HU AT BE NL Fl LV UK DK BG SI FX SE EE
countries
I I 1998 □ 2007
Source: Eurostat
■	The number of children born outside marriage is increasing also in Slovenia. In 2007, the number of live-born children in Slovenia born outside marriage exceeded a half for the first time. In 2008, this percentage increased to 52.9%. The percentage of married mothers who gave birth in 2008 exceeded the percentage of unmarried mothers only after the age of 30. As regards first-time mothers in 2008, in all ages more than half of them were unmarried. Two thirds (65%) of first-born children were born outside marriage.
■	Although the fertility of the post-war generation in Europe has been gradually decreasing since 1965, the total fertility rate has remained relatively stable in the past number of years: the average of 1.5 children per woman in childbearing age. Since the percentage of live-born children born outside marriage is steadily increasing, we can conclude that such a way of cohabitation is becoming very popular among young people. In the EU-27 Member States this phenomenon has been increasing in the recent years in almost all countries and in some countries, especially Northern European ones, represents a majority of live-born children. In the Mediterranean countries, in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Malta, Spain and Portugal, and in Slovakia and Romania, this percentage is lower, under 30%.
Table 7: Shares of live-born children born outside marriage, Slovenia, selected years (1955, 1965, 1975, 1985, 1995 and 2005-2008)
Years 1955 1965 1975 1985 1995 2005 2006 2007 2008
Share (%) 10.7 9.2 9.9 19.1 29.8 46.7 47.2 50.8 52.9
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
The low number of births in the past can not be compensated for
Figure 20: Shares of live-born children born outside marriage, Slovenia, selected years
(1955, 1965, 1975, 1985, 1995-2008)
%
60-,
50.
40-
30-
20-
10.
1955 1965 1975 1985 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
years
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
The number of marriages among young people is decreasing Figure 21: Mean age of bride and groom at first marriage, Slovenia, 1979-2008
age (years)
rM rs rN rM
— groom __ bride	29 years
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
■	The high number of live-born children born outside marriage also shows that for young people in Slovenia marriage is no longer the prevailing form of partnership.
■	Young people in Slovenia decide to marry at a later period in life compared to the past few decades. The mean age of a groom in Slovenia when entering into marriage has been over 30 since the mid-1990s. In 2008, grooms were, on average 33 years old (33.2 years); brides were on average 3 years younger but also over 30 (30.2) in 2008; they reached the age of 30 in 2006 (30.0).
■	The mean age of a bride and a groom entering into first marriage is also increasing. The mean age when entering into first marriage in Slovenia has been increasing since the second half of the 1980s and also increased in 2008: grooms who entered into a first marriage in 2008 were on average 30.9 years old; brides were on average 28.4 years old (or 2.5 years younger than the grooms). Three decades ago, a bride entering into a first marriage was on average almost 6 years younger (22.5 years) and a groom 5 years younger (25.7 years). Grooms entering into a first marriage in Slovenia are on average no longer young.
The number of marriages among young people is decreasing
Figure 22: Marriages by age of bride, Slovenia, selected years (1970-1974, 2000-2004
and 2007)
%
							
							
		-					
			-				
	"h				r		iT hTI i-m ^n --
under 15 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65+
age groups of the bride (years)
I | 01970-1974 | | 0 2000-2004 | | 2007
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
Figure 23: Marriages by age of groom, Slovenia, selected years (1970-1974, 2000-2004 and 2007)
50-,
40-
30-
20-
10-
_□_
ja
i-m hti
^-r-n
under 15 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65+
age groups of the groom (years)
I | 01970-1974 | | 0 2000-2004 □ 2007
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
Population ageing is a worldwide, European and Slovene problem Figure 24: Shares of young people (15-24 years), large regions of the world, 1950 and 2050
% 60
50 40 30 20 10.
developed countries
Asia/the Pacific
Africa
Latin America, Caribbean Islands regions of the world
I | 1950 □ 2050
Source: World Population Data Sheet 2009; http://www.prb.org/; 1st October 2009
■	Population ageing is a worldwide phenomenon. Because of the constant decrease in fertility and mortality (prolongation of life) in the past decades, the age structure of the population is substantially changing - the world population is becoming older. The process of population ageing first began in more developed parts of the world. According to United Nations estimates, the average age of a resident on our planet in 1950 was 23.6, whereas the oldest were Europeans (29 years) and the youngest African people with an average age under 20. In 2000, the average age of the world's population was 26.5 years; the average age of Europeans was 38, whereas the average age of African people decreased and dropped to 18.4 years because of the high mortality rate due to modern age diseases such as AIDS. Today, the median age of the world's population is 29 (a half of the world's population is under this age limit, the other half is above this limit). According to UN projections, the average age of the world's population in the next 4 decades by 2050 will presumably reach 38 as expected but the average age will still be different in individual regions of the world.
■	The ageing of the population is most visible in the developed world - in more developed countries 22% of the whole population will be older, in the developing countries 9% will be older. In 2050, in some developed countries the number of older people will be twice as large as the number of children (in Japan, the country with the oldest population, the average age will be 43).
■	According to UN projections, by 2050 the number of young people will increase from almost half a billion in 1950 to 1.2 billion, whereby almost 9 of 10 young people will be in developing countries. The percentage of young people (15-24 years) will increase in Africa and Asia. But this large group of young people has the right, like other young people in the developed world, to gainful employment, appropriate health care services and a life standard which enables the creation of their own family. To do that, they need the possibility of adequate education and training to be able to take over the tasks of society with full responsibility.
Population ageing is a worldwide, European and Slovene problem
Figure 25: Shares of population by broad age groups, EU-27 Member States, 2008
%
80- ~---- ~---" I I I I I I III I I I I I I
60- ~----"-"- - - - _"__-_ _____ _
40-- - ___________________________
20-- -_ _ _ _____ - - _ _ _ ___ _ _ ___ _-_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
0-lu-ii ii ii ii ii ii ii i ii ii ii ii ii ii ii ii ii ii ii ii ii ii ii ii ii ii ii--
EU-27 IT GR ES DE PT DK LU BE NL AT SI Fl HU FX CZ SE BG UK MT IE RO EE SK CY PL LV LT
countries
I | 0-14 □ 15-24 □ 25-49 □ 50-64 □ 65-79 ■ 80+
Source: Eurostat
■ Nowadays, the fastest growing age group in the world's population is the elderly, i.e. people who have already reached the age of 80 and over. This age group increases by 3.8% per year and represents more than one tenth (11%) of all older people in the world. By mid-21st century, the group of people aged 80 and over is already expected to represent one fifth of all older people (more than 19%). The number of 100-year-olds (100+) will increase by 15 times, from approximately 145,000 (in 1999) to 2.2 million (by 2050) or from less than 11% of the 6.9 billion world population (739 million in 2009) older than 60 years; their share is expected to increase to 22% by 2050 or, in other words, their number will increase to 2 billion (when there will be more than 9 billion people in the world); almost every tenth person will then be older than 80 years. If the fertility rate continues to decrease, for the first time in history the number of old people will exceed the number of children by 2050.
Population ageing is a worldwide, European and Slovene problem
Figure 26: Shares of population by broad age groups, EU-27 Member States, 2008
%
60-- - ___________________________
40-- - ___________________________
20-- -_-_- -_-_- -_-_- - -_- -_- ---------------
olLI—IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII—
EU-27 FX SE IT DK BE DE UK Fl GR PT NL AT LU EE IE ES HU LT LV BG RO MT SI CY PL CZ SK
countries
I I 0-14 □ 15-64 □ 65+
Source: Eurostat
■	The young age dependency ratio (which shows how many people younger than 15 depend or will depend on 100 working age people) in the EU-27 is expected to slightly increase by 2060, from 23.3% to 25.0%, whereby the old age dependency ratio (which shows how many people aged 65 and more depend or will depend on 100 working age people) is expected to significantly increase by 2060, from 25.4% to 53.5%.
■	One of the reasons for the ageing of population in Europe is a longer life span in all EU Member States, but the average life expectancy is getting longer at different intensity rates. The intensity is more noticeable in Southern (Spain, Greece, Cyprus) and Northern countries (Sweden, Finland); the Western countries (Romania and Bulgaria) and the Baltic States (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia) experience less intensive prolongation.
Population ageing is a worldwide, European and Slovene problem Figure 27: Life expectancy at birth for men and women, EU-27 Member States, 2005/06
age (years) 85-,
80-
75--
70--
65--
60-
EU-27 SE IT CY ES NL IE UK FR GR DE AT MT LU BE DK Fl PT SI CZ PL SK RO BG HU EE LV LT
countries
■ men n women
Source: Eurostat
■	Population ageing is also due to the fact that in Europe life expectancy at birth is getting longer. The value of this indicator, which represents the average number of years of life that can be expected by a new-born child provided that from the year of observation the mortality by age will remain stable and will be calculated by means of life tables, is a good indicator of the population's health. The life expectancy of a new-born child is getting longer in all EU-27 Member States but at different intensity rates.
■	According to Eurostat data for 2006, boys born in 2006 can be expected to live to the age of 77 in 10 EU Member States; girls born in the same year can, however, be expected to live to the age of 82 in 12 EU Member States. In 7 EU Member States the life expectancy for men is shorter than 70 years, whereas in 9 countries the life expectancy for women is shorter than 80 years. In the 2005/06 period, the life expectancy in EU Member States was the longest for men in Sweden and Cyprus (78.8 years) and for women in Spain and France (84.4 years); the shortest life expectancy for men was observed in Lithuania (65.3 years) and Latvia (65.4 years) and for women in Romania (76.2 years), Bulgaria and Latvia (76.3 years each). In all of the EU-27 Member States the life expectancy for the population of 65 years and over is getting longer.
Population ageing is a worldwide, European and Slovene problem Figure 28: Life expectancy at birth for men and women, Slovenia, 1958/59-2004/05
age (years)
eoi-minr^aitN^tiocoorg^-iocoorg^tiocoofN -tf in miOlOlOlOlOI^I^I^I^GOOOOOOOGOOITimCTOIOOOO OOtCTO^OOtCTO^OtOtCTO^OtOtCTO^OtO^CTO^OOOO
periods
- men - women
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
Figure 29: Shares of the population aged 65-79 and 80+, EU-27 Member States, 2008
%
18-, 15 12
9--
6--
3--
EU-27 IE SK CY PL LU MT NL CZ DK FR UK SE ES RO Fl HU AT BE LT SI PT EE LV BG IT GR DE
countries
I I 65-79 years I I 80 years and over
Source: Eurostat
■ In the future, the population of EU-27 Member States is expected to age significantly. The median age of the EU-27 population is expected to increase from 40.4 years in 2008 to 47.9 years in 2060. The percentage of persons aged 65+ in the whole population in the EU-27 is expected to increase from 17.1% to 30.0%; the size of the population of that age is expected to increase from 84.6 million in 2008 to 151.5 million in 2060.
Population ageing is a worldwide, European and Slovene problem
■ Similarly, in EU-27 Member States the number of people aged 80+ is expected to triple: from 21.8 million in 2008 to 61.4 million in 2060.
The value of the young age dependency ratio in the EU-27 is expected to moderately increase from 23.3% to 25.0% by 2060, whereas the value of the old age dependency ratio is expected to increase significantly from 25.4% to 53.5% in 2060.
Figure 30: Mean age of the population by sex, Slovenia, 1971-2008
age (years)
years
- TOTAL - men - women
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
■	Population ageing is a Europe-wide problem; Slovenia is one of the countries that are the most exposed as regards the demographic trends. The size of the population in Slovenia was increasing the fastest and the strongest in the 1970s as the size of the population was on average increasing by 1% annually. Although very high migration flows were typical in the 1970s, the size of the Slovene population in this period increased due to high fertility. The size of the population in Slovenia has been increasing on average only by 0.1% annually in the past five years.
■	According to the indicator of the mean age of the population, the population of Slovenia started to age around 1950. In 1931, when the mean age of the population on the current territory of Slovenia was 23.3 years (22.3 for men and 24.1 for women), women were on average 1.8 years older than men. Three decades later, the mean age of the population was already 32.0 years (30.6 for men and 33.3 for women), when women were on average 2.7 years older than men. At the 1991 population census people in Slovenia were on average 36.4 years old (men 34.7 and women 38.0), women were on average 3.3 years older than men. By the end of 2006, the mean age of the population increased to 40.8 years (42.5 for women and 39.2 for men).
■	By the end of 2008, the mean age of the population in Slovenia was 41.3 years. In 2008, the mean age of the Slovene population additionally increased by 0.2 years: by the end of 2008, men were on average 39.6 years old (0.1 year older than at the end of 2007), while women were 42.9 years old (0.2 year older than a year before).
The level of education is increasing generation by generation
Figure 31: Shares of upper secondary and tertiary students by level of education, EU-27 Member States, 2001
50-,
40-
30--T
20-
10-
EU-27 AT BE BG CY CZ DE DK EE ES Fl FR GR HU IE IT LT LU LV MT NL PL PT RO SE SI SK UK
countries
I I (ISCED 1) □ (ISCED 2) □ (ISCED 3-4) □ (ISCED 5-6)
Source: Eurostat
Figure 32: Shares of upper secondary and tertiary students by level of education, EU-27 Member States, 2007
50-
40-
30-!
20-
10-
EU-27 AT BE BG CY CZ DE DK EE ES Fl FR GR HU IE IT LT LU LV MT NL PL PT RO SE SI SK UK
countries
I I (ISCED 1) □ (ISCED 2) □ (ISCED 3-4) □ (ISCED 5-6)
Source: Eurostat
The level of education is increasing generation by generation
Figure 33: Shares of young people (20-24 years) with at least upper secondary education, EU-27 Member States, 2000 and 2008
100 -,
80
60.
40
20-
EU-27 MT FT ES DK LU DE NL IT UK RO LV GR BE EE HU BG FR AT CY Fl IE SE LT SI PL CZ SK
countries
I I 2000 n 2008
Source: Eurostat
Figure 34: Shares of young people (25-34 years) with tertiary education, EU-27 Member States, 2007
% 60
50-
40-
30
20
10.
EU-27 CZ RO SK AT IT PT HU MT DE BG LV GR PL SI EE LU NL UK ES LT Fl SE DK BE FR IE CY
countries
I I TOTAL I I women
Source: Eurostat, EU LFS
The level of education is increasing generation by generation
■	The number of European Union citizens with tertiary education is increasing with younger generations. In 2007, less than one third (30%) of the population in the age group 25-34 had tertiary education, whereas in older age groups this percentage was lower.
■	In 2007, a quarter of the EU-27 population (25%) in the age group 35-44 finished at least tertiary education, whereas in the age group 45-64, 19% of the EU-27 population finished tertiary education.
■	In 2007, the percentage of the population with tertiary education in the "youngest" age group (25-34) was the highest compared to the oldest age group (45-64) in all countries except in Germany. The highest percentage of people with tertiary education aged 25-34 was recorded in Cyprus (47%), Ireland (44%), France (42%), and Belgium (41%), followed by Denmark and Sweden (40% each); the lowest values of this indicator were observed in the Czech Republic (16%), Romania (17%), Slovakia (18%), followed by Italy and Austria (19%). With the value of 30.1% Slovenia achieved the 14th place, i.e. the middle of the EU-27 Member States scale.
■	The percentage of tertiary education graduates (this education includes a wide range of study programmes that enable the acquirement of post-secondary, higher and university education as well as masters and specialist education and doctoral education) is increasing in the EU-27 from generation to generation, more for women than for men. In the oldest age group (45-64 years) the percentage of men exceeded the percentage of women (21% of men and 18% of women in that age group had tertiary education), in the group of graduates aged 35-44 the percentages were almost the same (24% of men and 25% of women); in the youngest age group (25-34 years) the percentage of women significantly exceeded the percentage of men (26% of men and 34% of women). The share of students studying abroad is also increasing.
■	A connection was found between the level of education of parents and their children: a high educational level of parents contributes to a high educational level of their children.
Figure 35: Tertiary education graduates by field of education, EU-27, 2007, and Slovenia, 2008
fields of education education
humanities and arts
social sciences, business and law
science
engineering, manufacturing and construction
agriculture
health and welfare
30
40
50
I I SI, 2008 □ EU-27, 2007
Source: Eurostat
The level of education is increasing generation by generation
Figure 36: Population (15-24 years and 25-34 years) by level of education11, age group and sex, Slovenia, 2008
levels of education
no education, incomplete basic education basic education
%
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
i n	©subs
short-term vocational, vocational upper	I
secondary education	1 1 —i
1 ' ~
technical, general upper secondary education ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
tertiary education
I I men, 15-24 I I women, 15-24 I men, 25-34 I I women, 25-34
1 Each level of finished education = 100 Sources: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, LFS
■	Nowadays, the world and especially Europe promotes a society based on knowledge. Slovenia is also a part of these modern trends and makes a lot of investments because the school system must follow the progress of the economy and technology and the mentality of society.
■	The level of education of the Slovene population is increasing; from 2000 to 2005 the number of people with unfinished elementary school education decreased by 15%, whereas the number of people who only finished elementary school decreased by 12%.
■	In 2008, more men than women in Slovenia aged 15-24 and 25-34 had no education or had finished only elementary education.
■	98% of the population aged 15-19 was included in upper secondary education, although it is not mandatory. It is divided into vocational and specialised education (secondary technical and specialised education; secondary vocational education; vocational-technical education; lower vocational education) and general secondary education (general and specialized upper secondary schools).
The level of education is increasing generation by generation
Figure 37: Share of women (15+) by level of education, Slovenia, selected years (1971,
1981, 1991, 2002 and 2007)
%
80-
60
40-
20
□ no education, incomplete basic education I I upper secondary education I I basic education	d| tertiary education
years
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
■	An increasing number of women decide to enrol in study programmes after finishing upper secondary school. 35 years ago only one fifth of women in Slovenia achieved more than elementary school education; 30% of all women had no education or had only unfinished elementary school. Only about 2% of women had post-secondary education.
■	After 1980 this ratio started to change and after 2000 only 10% of women in Slovenia had unfinished elementary school education; today, the share is 5%.
■	In 2007, 94.3% of women in Slovenia aged 20-24 finished at least upper secondary school (80.8% in the EU-27), whereas 89.0% of men of the same age finished at least upper secondary school (75.5% in the EU-27).
■	In the 2007/08 academic year almost 60% of students were women. In the 2007/08 academic year almost two thirds of all women in Slovenia aged 19-23 were included in post-secondary or higher education (ten years ago the share was less than 40%). As far as the contents are concerned, the interests of female students have not significantly changed in the past decade. Most female students, almost half of them, decide upon the study of social sciences, whereas one third of female students decide upon the fields of education, humanities and arts, or health and welfare.
The level of education is increasing generation by generation
Figure 38: Number of tertiary education graduates by sex, Slovenia, selected years (1980-1993 and 1994-2008)
number (1,000)
years
□ total I_I men □ women
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
■	In 2007, Slovenia occupied the 13th place among the EU-27 Member States in the "youngest" age group (aged 25-34) according to the percentage of the population who had finished tertiary education and thus overtook all four neighbouring countries. The lowest percentage of people with tertiary education in the above age group was in 2007 observed in Austria and Italy (19 % each), followed by Slovakia (18%), Romania (17%) and the Czech Republic (15%).
■	The percentage of women with finished tertiary education in Slovenia is also significantly increasing; in the oldest age group more women finish tertiary education than men (18.3% of women and 17.2% of men). In the youngest age group (25-34 years), 20.4% of men and 40.3% of women in Slovenia have tertiary education.
■	In the past 50 years, the increase in the number of students in Slovenia has been significant. With the development of modern society in the second half of the previous century education became more important and more accessible. This is evident from the data on the number of students per 100,000 population in Slovenia. According to statistics from 1945, at that time 2,575 students or 180 students per 100,000 population participated in higher undergraduate education. In 1960, the number of undergraduate students in Slovenia exceeded 10,000; however, in the 2006/07 academic year 90,000 students (including the candidates for graduation), i.e. 4,421 students per 100,000 population, were already enrolled at the undergraduate level of higher education. Along with students at the post-secondary level of undergraduate studies these students are part of more than 18 million students from all the EU Member States.
■	Since the beginning of the 1980s, female students have been prevailing over male students. Until 1980, the percentage of male students was larger than the percentage of female students; in the 1950s, the percentage of female students was even lower than
The level of education is increasing generation by generation
30%. After 1980, the ratio changed; in the 2007/08 academic year there were almost 60% of female students. The number of men in Slovene tertiary education keeps pace with the number of women in post-secondary education only, while in doctoral education their number exceeds that of women by 1 percentage point.
Figure 39: Tertiary education students by age and sex, Slovenia, 1999 and 2008
%
18 15129 6
mk
MM.
18 or 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30-34 35-39 40 + younger
age (years)
I I men, 1999	men, 2008 I I women. 1999 I I women, 2008
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
■	In the 2007/08 academic year, 66% of students included in higher undergraduate programmes were younger than 25 and less than 10% of them were 30 years old or older.
■	In the 2007/08 academic year, less than 10% of students included in higher postgraduate education were younger than 25; 50% of those students were in the age group 25-29 and more than 40% of those students were older than 29.
■	In students of post-secondary specialised education, the age "figure" in the 2007/08 academic year is different: 20- to 23-year-olds prevailed (37%) and also students aged 30 or over; they represented almost one third of all students enrolled in those schools at that time.
■	In the 2008/09 academic year, fewer students were enrolled in tertiary education in Slovenia than in the previous year. In the 2008/09 academic year, there were 114,391 students, which was less than in the 2007/08 academic year; however, the "generation" of young people was smaller. Nevertheless, almost half of all young people in Slovenia (persons aged between 19 and 24) were included in some form of tertiary education,
■	In the same way as the percentage of young people that continue schooling after finishing upper secondary education increased in the past decade, the increase was also present in the number of students who continue education after graduating at tertiary level.
The level of education is increasing generation by generation Figure 40: Tertiary education graduates by sex, Slovenia, 1994-2008
70-,
60-
50
40-
30
20
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
years
I I men I I women
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
Figure 41: Shares of young people (19-23 years) included in tertiary education by sex
and academic year, Slovenia, 1997-2008
%
70-,
60-
50-
40-
30-
20-
10-
1997/98 1998/99 1999/00 2000/01 2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08
academic years
I I men I I women
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
The level of education is increasing generation by generation
Figure 42: Number of tertiary education graduates by field of education and sex, Slovenia, 2008
number
fields of education
education
humanities and arts
social sciences, business and law science engineering, manufacturing and construction
agriculture health and welfare
services
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
■	The percentage of the Slovene population that continues their studies at tertiary level is increasing. In the 2006/07 academic year nearly half of people (48.2%) between 19 and 23 were included in post-secondary specialised or higher education. This is 7.3% more than five years ago and 17.5% more than in 1997/98.
■	In 2008, the number of new graduates of tertiary education exceeded 17,000, whereas 17,221 students, of whom two thirds were women, graduated in post-secondary specialised schools and higher education institutions.
■	More than 9,000 persons acquired higher education at the first level, 6,655 students acquired higher education at the second level and 1,419 students acquired higher education at the third level.
■	In 2008, as in the previous years, a high percentage of people in Slovenia graduated in the field of social science, business and law and they represented a half of all tertiary education graduates; 71% of them were women. The number of graduates was the lowest in the field of science and in the field of agriculture (just a little over 1,000 or 6.5% of all graduates in 2008).
0 1,500 3,000 4,500 6,000 7,500 9,000

ID
□
□ men □
The level of education is increasing generation by generation
Table 8: Number of tertiary education graduates by type of programme11 and field of education by sex, Slovenia, 2008
Higher study programme TOTAL	1st level	2nd level	3rd level
TOTAL women TOTAL women TOTAL ženske TOTAL women
TOTAL	17,221	10,808	9,147	5,676	6,655	4,351	1,419	781
Education	1,421	1,218	268	264	1,106	916	47	38
Humanities and arts	981	680	74	25	752	545	155	110
Social sciences, business and law	8,591	6,107	4,992	3,727	2,848	1,929	751	451
Science	700	270	179	40	362	154	159	76
Engineering, manufacturing and construction 2,337		535	1,392	248	783	256	162	31
Agriculture	425	262	222	135	170	108	33	19
Health and welfare	1,335	1,109	800	708	471	364	64	37
Services	1,431	627	1,220	529	163	79	48	19
1 In accordance with the Classification System of Education and Training (KLASIUS) the types of study programmes are classified as follows:
-	First cycle of higher education: higher vocational education, professional higher education (former), professional higher education (first Bologna cycle), academic higher education (first Bologna cycle)
-	Second cycle of higher education: specialization after professional higher education (former), academic higher education (former), masters education (second Bologna cycle)
-	Third cycle of higher education: specialization after academic higher education (former), masters education (former), education leading to doctorate of science (former), education leading to a doctorate of science (third Bologna cycle)
-	Graduates from specialization after academic higher education (former) are in our data included in specialists after professional higher (former) education.
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
■	After reaching the value of approximately 6,000 annually in the 1980s and the early 1990s, the number of new tertiary education graduates in Slovenia began to increase substantially after 1994 and 10 years ago it exceeded 10,000. Until 2008, the number of all graduates in Slovenia doubled compared to 1996 and tripled compared to the years before 1990.
■	In the fourth year after the amendment of higher education legislation and after the renewal of study programmes in accordance with the Bologna Declaration, there were 826 new graduates in Slovenia, including, inter alia, the first "Bologna" doctors of science, joining 697 other graduates who finished the renewed Bologna study programmes before 2008.
■	In 2008, over 3,400 students graduated from post-secondary vocational schools. The number of post-secondary vocational school graduates is increasing every year. In 2008, over 3,400 students finished post-secondary vocational education, which is 20% more than in the previous year. While male graduates were evenly distributed among technical, sociological and economic areas of study, 80% of female graduates in 2008 obtained the title of accountant, executive secretary or commercial clerk.
The level of education is increasing generation by generation
Table 9: Number of tertiary education graduates1 by type of programme and university and independent higher education institution, Slovenia, 2008
Higher	University	University University	University Independent
education of of of	of	higher
institutions	Ljubljani	Mariboru	Primorska	Nova Gorica education
TOTAL	institutions
Types of programme - TOTAL 13,786
5,132 284 296
Professional higher (former)
Professional higher (first Bologna cycle)
Academic higher (first Bologna cycle) Specialisation after professional higher education (former) :
Academic higher (former)
Masters education (second Bologna cycle)
of which uniform masters education (second Bologna cycle) Masters education (former)
Doctoral education (former)
Doctoral education (third Bologna cycle)
6,024 243
41 1,014 402 3
8,598
2,536 27 148 126 4,580 165
41 671 345
3,181
1,483
73 1,360 40
187 36 2
861
317 99 134 189 68 14
36 3 1
51
21
16 1
5 8
1,095
775 158 14
23
115 10
1) The students of specialisation after academic education are also included. Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
■ In 2008, 13,786 students finished higher education, similar to 2007. Two thirds of all graduates finished higher education at the University of Ljubljana. Over 3,000 students graduated from the University of Maribor, whereas at the University of Primorska the number of graduates was 861. 51 students finished their studies at the University of Nova Gorica. At all of the above universities the number of graduates in 2008 was lower than in 2007; the opposite applies to independent higher education institutions; the number of graduates in these institutions increased and exceeded 1,000 for the first time in 2008.
The share of pupils enrolled in upper secondary schools is increasing
Figure 43: Number of pupils enrolled in upper secondary education programmes by type of programme and sex, Slovenia, end of the 2007/08 school year
number 40,000-,
30,000-
20,000
10,000
lower secondary technical and general upper vocational vocational matura vocational vocational professional secondary technical courses courses
school programme
upper secondary programmes
I I total I I women
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
Figure 44: Number of pupils who finished upper secondary education programmes by type of programme and sex, Slovenia, end of the 2007/08 school year
number
10,000-, „ „
8,000-
6,000
4,000
2,000
In
lower	secondary technical and general upper vocational vocational matura
vocational vocational professional secondary technical courses courses
school programme
□ total I I women
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
upper secondary programmes
The share of pupils enrolled in upper secondary schools is increasing
Table 10: Number and shares of pupils in upper secondary education programmes, all students and those who finished education, Slovenia, end of the 2007/08 school year
Number of students	% of students
enrolled finished	enrolled finished
education	education
TOTAL women TOTAL women	TOTAL women TOTAL women
TOTAL	88,630	43,822	21,762	11,079	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Lower vocational programmes	1,225	306	418	127	1.4	0.7	1.9	1.1
Secondary vocational programmes	13,724	4,385	4,173	1,489	15.5	10.0	19.2	13.4
Technical and professional programmes	30,251	14,531	6,325	3,280	34.1	33.2	29.1	29.6
General upper secondary school programmes	36,134	21,359	8,367	5,037	40.8	48.7	38.4	45.5
Vocational-technical programmes	5,936	2,307	2,052	861	6.7	5.3	9.4	7.8
Vocational courses	315	191	129	82	0.4	0.4	0.6	0.7
Matura courses	1,045	743	298	203	1.2	1.7	1.4	1.8
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
■	Enrolment in Slovene upper secondary schools is increasing. At the end of the 2007/ 08 school year, 88,630 upper secondary school pupils and 14,568 adults in Slovenia were included in upper secondary educational programmes. At the beginning of the 2008/09 school year, 87,501 young people in Slovenia were included in upper secondary programmes, of whom 42,656 were women. 2,722 pupils repeated classes.
■	In the 2006/07 school year, 98% of pupils continued schooling after finishing compulsory education: 39.3% of them decided to enrol in general upper secondary schools, 33.3% in technical and other professional education, 16,5% in secondary vocational educational programmes, 7.3% in secondary vocational-technical programmes (3+2 years), 1.8% in vocational and matura courses and 1.7% in lower vocational programmes.
■	Every year, the number of enrolments in general and professional upper secondary schools is increasing; at the end of the 2007/08 school year, 41% of all students were enrolled in such types of schools. Enrolment in lower and secondary vocational programmes is decreasing.
■	At the beginning of the 2008/09 school year, 87,501 pupils were enrolled in upper secondary schools; most pupils were enrolled in general upper secondary schools and secondary technical and professional schools; enrolment in lower and secondary vocational programmes, however, is decreasing every year. The number of students enrolled in vocational-technical educational programmes and vocational and matura courses did not significantly increase in the past five years.
The share of pupils enrolled in upper secondary schools is increasing
Figure 45: Share of pupils enrolled in upper secondary educational programmes by sex, Slovenia, the schools years 1998/99 and 2008/09
%
25-,
20
15
10 —
5 —
0 J—-----------I—
general upper	secondary technical and	lower and secondary
secondary school	professional education	vocational education
upper secondary educational programmes ^ men, 98/99	men, 08/09 | | women, 98/99 | | women, 08/09
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
■	In the 2007/08 school year, 21,762 upper secondary school pupils finished education; most of them were general upper secondary school graduates (38%). Somewhat fewer pupils (29%) finished vocational matura examinations in technical and professional programmes, less than 20% of pupils finished final examinations in secondary vocational programmes.
■	The rest of them finished schooling in one of the lower vocational programmes (almost 2%), food processing technician programmes (over 9%), vocational courses (0.6%) and matura courses (1.4%). The number of young people who decide to continue schooling after finishing secondary school is increasing, however, only a successfully completed matura examination enables enrolment in more competitive academic programmes. With the vocational matura examination, which is a form of conclusion of education in secondary technical schools, education may be continued in professional higher schools and in some universities.
More and more young people and adults are learning foreign languages
Figure 46: Average number of foreign languages learned by pupils, EU-27 Member States11, 2000 and 2005
average number of foreign languages per student
3-,
					d SURS																																									
																																														
																																														_
																							-																						It	
LU Fl NL EE BE DK SE CZ PL RO SI SK AT BG LV CY LT DE HU ES GR IT MT IE FT UK FR
countries
I I 2000 □ 2005
" There are no data for 2000 for FI, NL, LV, GR, PT and UK. There are no data for 2005 for FR. Source: Eurostat
■	Nowadays, language diversity in the EU is a fact and cooperation with people who speak other languages is becoming a part of our everyday lives. The ability to communicate in several languages in the European Union, which is based on the "unity in diversity", is essential for individuals as well as for organisations and companies.
■	Article 22 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union adopted in 2000 sets out that the EU should respect language diversity. The main language families in the European Union are Germanic, Romance, Slavic, Baltic and Celtic. The EU institutions use 23 official languages but there are also many other languages that are used less frequently. In its strategic documents and programmes, the EU supports the use of several languages in a dual sense: within the EU geographic territory people speak several mother tongues and a lot of its citizens speak several languages. The European Parliament differs from other EU institutions in its commitment to ensuring full multi-lingualism. Direct access to the respective legislation must be ensured to all EU citizens in the language of their country.
More and more young people and adults are learning foreign languages
Table 11: Average number of foreign languages learned by pupils in upper secondary schools and the share of pupils learning individual foreign languages, EU-27 Member States, 2001 and 2006
Average number of foreign languages learned by a student
2001
2006
Students in general programmes learning English (%)
2001 2006
Students in general programmes learning French (%)
2001 2006
Students in general programmes learning German (%)
2001 2006
EU-27	1.3	1.3	71.0	84.1	18.1	22.2	19.4	24.3
AT		1.4		96.9		54.1	-	-
BE	1.8	1.7	94.1	94.4	48.3	48.1	30.3	28.4
BG	1.4	1.5	79.0	86.1	20.8	15.3	38.6	40.3
CY	1.6	1.6	89.8	88.1	68.7	38.3	1.3	2.4
CZ	1.3	1.4	96.6	100.0	14.7	25.0	75.7	72.2
DE	0.7	0.9	92.0	94.3	29.4	28.7	-	-
DK	1.5	1.5	91.0	99.9	22.9	22.6	69.6	71.9
EE	2.2	2.2	90.9	92.6	4.3	6.1	46.3	44.1
ES	1.2	1.2	95.5	94.6	23.9	27.1	0.9	1.1
FI			99.5	99.5	22.2	19.7	43.3	35.4
FR	1.7	1.7	99.3	99.4	-	-	31.2	22.8
GR	1.0	1.0	94.3	94.0	14.0	8.6	3.1	2.9
HU	1.2	1.2	60.6	73.3	6.1	6.2	47.8	49.9
IE	0.9	0.9	-	-	66.2	60.5	19.1	18.2
IT	1.2	1.4	81.0	96.9	27.0	21.4	7.8	7.7
LT	1.6	1.4	73.7	82.3	7.8	5.4	37.0	27.2
LU	2.3	2.3	93.1	97.0	89.4	97.0	87.6	97.0
LV		1.2	89.2	94.9	4.0	4.1	51.8	35.1
MT	0.7	0.6	80.7	63.5	8.1	7.9	0.8	1.7
NL	1.6		98.2	100.0	26.7	70.1	32.0	86.2
PL	1.4	1.7	90.1	90.0	15.2	10.0	62.4	64.0
PT		0.8		50.7		15.1		1.6
RO	1.4	1.6	86.1	94.8	84.8	83.6	10.8	11.6
SE	1.7	1.6	99.8	99.9	25.6	22.4	53.5	32.4
SI	1.4	1.6	95.6	98.9	7.8	10.2	83.3	77.0
SK	1.4	1.5	95.9	97.7	13.1	16.0	788	72.6
UK		0.6	-	-		34.8		13.1
Source: Eurostat, Unesco, OECD
■ The European Commission emphasises the importance of multilinguality and has thus formed a special multilingualism policy. To clearly show its commitment to emphasising the importance of languages and language diversity in the EU, the Commission also nominated a Commissioner for the promotion of the learning of foreign languages among citizens and defined a basic goal for a multilingual EU on the threshold of the third millennium, i.e. that people should be fluent in their mother tongue and two foreign languages. The Commission stands for an establishment of a new strategy for multilingualism, the strategy that would draw attention especially to a lifelong learning of languages for everybody, including people with fewer opportunities.
More and more young people and adults are learning foreign languages
Table 12: Number of pupils, students and adults who are learning foreign languages, Slovenia, the 2007/08 school year
According to the prescribed curriculum As an optional subject Facultative subject young people	adults	young people	young people
In elementary schools
English	104,486
German	5,923
French	-
Italian	-
Latin	-
Spanish	-
Croatian	-
other foreign languages -
In upper secondary schools
English	81,199
German	44,215
Italian	6,112
French	4,202
Spanish	3,358
Russian	351
Hungarian	-
Latin	700
other foreign languages 101
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
■	Young people are also more and more active in continuing education. The participants of the various forms of continuing education do not obtain a higher level of formal education but can achieve a vocational qualification or extend and further their general education. More than 80% of all types of continuing education in Slovenia are still intended for the needs of a particular profession. In the 2007/08 school year, 326 continuing education providers carried out over 20,000 programmes and reported almost 300,000 participants, which is almost 10% more than in the previous year. In the 2007/08 school year, the continuing education providers carried out 4,308 language courses and reported 24,653 participants, which is similar to the previous school year. Most of the participants attended English language courses. The second most popular language was German.
■	If we compare data for the school years 1996/97 and 2006/07, we can see that the percentage of students learning foreign languages according to the prescribed curriculum or as an optional subject has significantly increased in elementary and upper secondary schools. The attendance of language courses in Slovenia is also increasing. The fostering of our mother tongue, however, remains equally important, since it is known that "one cannot master a foreign language without fully mastering one's mother tongue".
■	In Slovenia, the schools and the Ministry of Education and Sport are primarily responsible for a high level of knowledge of the Slovene language; however, we have to strive for its proper and consistent use as a group and individually depending on the environment in which we live.
1,197 2,520	9,269
153 18,333	5,973
1,874	271
1,460	600
-	101	44 1,359
-	208	-
-	67	6
12,706 -	-
5,936 -	-
1,784 41	37
18 0	3
17 35	17 345 108
2 1,267	37
-	26	-
More and more young people and adults are learning foreign languages
■ In the 2006/07 school year, 25,000 elementary school pupils were learning a foreign language or even two foreign languages as optional subjects in addition to a compulsory foreign language (mostly English). Most of them chose the German language as their optional subject, the second most common choice was English, and the third choice was French.
Figure 47: Share of population by mother tongue1), age group and sex, Slovenia, 2002 Census
age groups
- Slovene	Italian - Hungarian-Romani -Albanian
1 Each language = 100
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, 2002 Census
■	Language is an integral part of our identity and the most direct expression of our culture. Today, the Slovene language is used in all fields of private and public life; however, the importance of multilingualism is increasing in Slovenia and in the European Union, since knowledge of languages is becoming more and more important in everyday life.
■	The mother tongue is the language that we learn in early childhood from our environment, family and other primary sources. Usually this is the first language that we learn; if we learn two (bilingualism) or more languages (multilingualism), the mother tongue (from a statistical point of view) is the language that an individual can define as his/her mother tongue. The mother tongue of the residents of the whole territory of Slovenia is mostly Slovene, but for those residents that live in the Slovene minority areas with mixed nationalities their mother tongues are Italian and Hungarian.
■	According to the 2002 population census, the percentage of persons with Slovene as a mother tongue was the highest in the age groups over 60 and up to 10 years of age (in both cases it exceeded 92%). According to the population census, the percentage of the population with Hungarian as mother tongue is decreasing, while the percentage of the population with Italian as mother tongue has been fluctuating from census to census by approximately 0.2% since 1971.
More and more young people and adults are learning foreign languages
Table 13: Number of young people (15-29 years) by mother tongue and sex, Slovenia, 2002 Census
TOTAL
number	%
	TOTAL	15-19 years	20-24 years	25-29 years	15-29 years	15-29 years
Total	1,964,036	130,029	147,687	144,977	422,693	21.5
Slovene	1,723,434	116,822	131,680	128,953	377,455	21.9
Italian	3,762	112	159	167	438	11.6
Hungarian	7,713	306	420	447	1,173	15.2
Romani	3,834	377	402	341	1,120	29.2
Albanian	7,177	505	596	624	1,725	24.0
Bosnian	31,499	2,636	2,707	2,377	7,720	24.5
Montenegrin	462	22	32	25	79	17.1
Croatian	54,079	1,925	2,200	2,158	6,283	11.6
Macedonian	4,760	236	395	428	1,059	22.2
German	1,628	44	72	97	213	13.1
Serbian	31,329	2,136	2,333	1,737	6,206	19.8
Serbian-Croatian	36,265	2,527	2,631	1,891	7,049	19.4
other	5,778	177	297	521	995	17.2
unknown	52,316	2,204	3,763	5,211	11,178	21.4
MEN
number	%
TOTAL 15-19 years 20-24 years 25-29 years 15-29 years 15-29 years
Total	958,576	66,417
Slovene	829,166	59,672
Italian	1,735	65
Hungarian	3562	143
Romani	1,950	194
Albanian	4,717	283
Bosnian	18,037	1,356
Montenegrin	258	9
Croatian	26,645	974
Macedonian	2,986	132
German	677	19
Serbian	17,406	1,087
Serbian-Croatian	18,991	1,319
other	2,631	77
unknown	29,815	1,087
	TOTAL	15-19 years
76,190	74,456	217,063	22.6
67,678	65,506	192,856	23.3
77	73	215	12.4
217	214	574	16.1
223	166	583	29.9
388	401	1,072	22.7
1,502	1,446	4,304	23.9
19	10	38	14.7
1,093	1,102	3,169	11.9
254	295	681	22.8
39	48	106	15.7
1,245	951	3,283	18.9
1,372	1,045	3,736	19.7
126	198	401	15.2
1,957	3,001	6,045	20.3
WOMEN			
number			%
■24 years 25-29 years 15-29 years 15-29 years
Total	1,005,460	63,612	71,497	70,521	205,630	20.5
Slovene	894,268	57,150	64,002	63,447	184,599	20.6
Italian	2,027	47	82	94	223	11.0
Hungarian	4,151	163	203	233	599	14.4
Romani	1,884	183	179	175	537	28.5
Albanian	2,460	222	208	223	653	26.5
Bosnian	13,462	1,280	1,205	931	3,416	25.4
Montenegrin	204	13	13	15	41	20.1
Croatian	27,434	951	1,107	1,056	3,114	11.4
Macedonian	1,774	104	141	133	378	21.3
German	951	25	33	49	107	11.3
Serbian	13,923	1,049	1,088	786	2,923	21.0
Serbian-Croatian	17,274	1,208	1,259	846	3,313	19.2
other	3,147	100	171	323	594	18.9
unknown	22,501	1,117	1,806	2,210	5,133	22.8
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, 2002 Census
The cost of education is increasing
Figure 48: Share of public expenditure in % of GDP, EU-27 Member States11, 2004 and 2006
% 10
4--
OSURS
_n
MT LU RO SK GR BG ES DE CZ IT EE LT IE LV PL PT HU AT NL UK FR SI BE Fl SE CY DK
countries
I I 2004 ■ 2006
" Data for GR, MT and RO are for 2005. Source: Eurostat
■	With its 5.67% expenditure for formal education in GDP in 2006, Slovenia ranked 6th among the EU Member States after Denmark, Cyprus, Sweden, Finland and Belgium.
■	International comparisons use, because of the decreased reliability of data on private educational resources, the proportion of public expenditure for education in GDP as the main indicator for measuring the scope of investment in education.
■	The costs of education include maintenance and repairs costs and the amortisation of premises and equipment intended specifically for education, expenditure for tools and instruments used for education, expenditure for courses, seminars, professional trips, and payments for external instructors at the expense of the employer. The costs do not include wages, wage compensations and contributions for instructors who work in the company, investments in premises and equipment, and the costs for education due by employed persons.
The cost of education is increasing
Figure 49: Share of public expenditure for tertiary education in % of GDP, EU-27 Member States1), 2006
% of GDP 2.5-,
2--
1.5--
1--
0.5-
DK Fl SE CY NL AT BE SI CZ FR IE DE UK HU LT PT PL ES EE LV SK IT BG
countries
" No data for GR, MT, LU and RO. Source: Eurostat
■	According to the proportion of public expenditure for tertiary education as % of GDP, in 2006 (1.24%) Slovenia exceeded the average of the EU-27 Member States and ranked
8th after Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Austria and Belgium.
■	Among the new EU-27 Member States, Cyprus alone allocated a higher percentage of its GDP to tertiary education (1.65%), whereas the Czech Republic allocated an approximately equal percentage as Slovenia (1.23%).
The cost of education is increasing
Figure 50: Total expenditure for educational institutions by level of education, Slovenia, 2005-2007
million EUR 900-,
750
600
450
300
150 —
basic
preschool
I I 2005 □ 2006 □ 2007
upper secondary
tertiary
levels of education
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
■	Public expenditure aimed at formal education in Slovenia (state and municipalities) amounted in 2007 to EUR 1,795 million or 5.21% of GDP: 2.27% of GDP for basic education, 1.21% of GDP for tertiary education and 1.16% of GDP for upper secondary education.
■	Total (public, private, international) expenditure for educational institutions, expressed as a percentage of GDP, decreased in all levels of education compared to 2006, especially for institutions in basic and upper secondary education.
■	According to the percentage of public expenditure as % of GDP for 2006, Slovenia ranked 6th among the EU-27 Member States, and 8th according to the percentage of public expenditure for tertiary education as % of GDP.
■	In 2007, the national expenditure for formal education increased by 2.3% compared to the previous year and amounted to EUR 1,491 million, the expenditure of municipalities increased by 0.5% and amounted to EUR 320 million; in total, nearly one fifth (18%) of total public expenditure was allocated to education.
■	In 2007, two thirds of public transfers were intended for tertiary education, which means that public transfers represented nearly a quarter of total public expenditure for tertiary education.
■	The state allocated 28% of its resources for formal education to tertiary education; 27% of all resources were allocated to upper secondary education, 45% to basic education and 0.4% to preschool education.
■	The municipalities allocated 59% of all resources to formal education, 38% to basic education and only over 3% to upper secondary and tertiary education.
The cost of education is increasing
Figure 51: Private expenditure for educational institutions by level of education, Slovenia, 2005-2007
million EUR 300-,
250
200 —
150 —
100 —
50 —
preschool
basic
upper secondary
tertiary
levels of education
I I 2005 □ 2006 □ 2007
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
■	In 2007, 92% or EUR 1,650 million of budgetary resources was allocated to educational institutions, 8% of these resources or EUR 144 million was allocated to transfers for households and other private entities. 47% of budgetary resources for educational institutions (or EUR 781 mi EUR) was allocated to basic education, over 21% (or EUR 353 million) to upper secondary education and less than 20% (or EUR 323 million) to tertiary education.
■	In the structure of total expenditure for educational institutions, public expenditure represented 85.9%, private 13.2% and international 0.9%.
■	In 2007, the largest proportion of private expenditure for educational institutions was intended for the tertiary level of education (22% of total expenditure for tertiary education institutions), and the second largest percentage was intended for the preschool level of education (16% of total expenditure for these educational institutions).
Scholarship
Figure 52: Shares of scholarship recipients (upper secondary and tertiary levels) by type of scholarship, Slovenia, 1997 and 2007
million EUR 100 -,
60
40
20--
sponsorships	national	Zois	other funds
types of scholarship
□ tertiary students, 1997 □ upper secondary pupils, 1997
I I tertiary students, 2007	upper secondary pupils, 2007
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
■	The allocation of scholarships, which are a form of monetary assistance for individuals for the purpose of their education, vocational training, research programmes, the learning of foreign languages, etc., is based on academic success, special talents or achievements (in art, sports, etc.), social status or participation in an association or ethnic group.
■	Scholarships in Slovenia are granted by the state, enterprises, companies, funds or other organizations to upper secondary school pupils and university students, students of post-secondary or higher schools, faculties and academies and to students of postgraduate masters and doctoral studies in Slovenia and abroad. Sponsorships are a basic form of scholarship for upper secondary school pupils and university students; they are allocated by organizations and employers in accordance with their needs. The Zois scholarship is intended for extraordinarily talented upper secondary school pupils and university students. The right to a national scholarship can be enforced by upper secondary school students, students of professional higher schools and students of higher educational institutions attending undergraduate and post-graduate public programmes.
■	At the end of 2007, over 54,500 upper secondary school pupils and university students in Slovenia received a scholarship or almost 5% less than in the previous year. At the beginning of the 2000/01 school year, more than 196,000 upper secondary school pupils and university students were enrolled in upper secondary and tertiary education; less than one third of all enrolled pupils and students received a scholarship. At the beginning of the 2007/08 school year, more than 207,000 pupils and students were enrolled in upper secondary and tertiary education; however, only a little over a quarter of them received a scholarship.
Scholarship
Table 14: Upper secondary and tertiary scholarship recipients by sex and type of scholarship, Slovenia and EU-27, 2007
TOTAL	Slovenia	Foreign countries
TOTAL men women TOTAL men women TOTAL men women
TOTAL
all types			
of scholarships	54,630	25,120	29.510
sponsorships	7,309	4,853	2,456
national	34,581	14,844	19,737
Zois	12,571	5,331	7,240
other	169	92	77
Tertiary students
all types			
of scholarships	24,606	9,693	14,913
sponsorships	4,505	2,670	1,835
national	12,483	4,150	8,333
Zois	7,516	2,816	4,700
other	102	57	45
Upper secondary pupils
all types of			
of scholarships	30,024	15,427	14,597
sponsorships	2,804	2,183	621
national	22,098	10,694	11,404
Zois	5,055	2,515	2,540
other	67	35	32
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
54,568	25,083	29,485	62	37	25
7,277	4,829	2,448	32	24	8
34,556	14,833	19,723	25	11	14
12,571	5,331	7,240	-	-	-
164	90	74	5	2	3
24,553	9,662	14,891	53	31	22
4,474	2,647	1,827	31	23	8
12,466	4,144	8,322	17	6	11
7,516	2,816	4,700	-	-	-
97	55	42	5	2	3
30,015	15,421	14,594	9	6	3
2,803	2,182	621	1	1	-
22,090	10,689	11,401	8	5	3
5,055	2,515	2,540	-	-	-
67	35	32	-	-	-
■	In general, the ratio of scholarships has remained much the same since 2000: approximately two thirds of all scholarships are national, over 20% of students receive Zois scholarships, the remaining scholarships are sponsorships and scholarships from other funds (foundations). Nevertheless, there is a slight decrease in the share of national scholarships and sponsorships, whereas the proportion of Zois scholarships and scholarships from other funds is slowly increasing.
■	Most of the sponsorships (around 40%) are allocated in manufacturing (especially manufacture of metallic and non-metallic products, manufacture of machinery and equipment, and manufacture of electrical and optical equipment) and in public administration, defence and social security (around 10%).
Scholarship
Table 15: Number and share of scholarship recipients (upper secondary and tertiary levels) by activity11 of the scholarship granting body, Slovenia, 2007
Activity	TOTAL	Number tertiary students	upper secondary pupils	TOTAL	% tertiary students	upper secondar pupils
TOTAL	54,630	24,606	30,024	100	100	100
agriculture, hunting and forestry	27	17	10	0.05	0.07	0.03
mining and quarrying	340	162	178	0.62	0.66	0.59
manufacturing	2,296	1,159	1,137	4.20	4.71	3.79
electricity, gas and water supply	277	191	86	0.51	0.78	0.29
construction	580	351	229	1.06	1.43	0.76
wholesale, retail; repair of motor vehicles	485	265	220	0.89	1.08	0.73
hotels and restaurants	99	25	74	0.18	0.10	0.25
transport, storage and communication	293	173	120	0.54	0.70	0.40
financial intermediation	91	76	15	0.17	0.31	0.05
real estate, renting and business activities	1,365	909	456	2.50	3.69	1.52
public administration and defence, compulsory social security	48,401	21,054	27,347	88.60	85.56	91.08
education	10	8	2	0.02	0.03	0.01
health and social work	161	125	36	0.29	0.51	0.12
other community, social and personal service activities 205		91	114	0.38	0.37	0.38
" SKD 2002
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
Housing conditions of young people
Figure 53: Shares of young people with own households living in too small apartments, by age group, EU-27 Member States, 2003
%
countries
I I 15-18 years I I 19-24 years I I 25-29 years
Source: EQLS, 2003
■	A dwelling, which is a physical shelter and which satisfies the human need to survive and lead a decent life, strongly affects the quality of life of an individual and of society. It represents a common good and is one of the basic conditions for the life of an individual or of society and is classified among the basic human needs or rights of an individual in a number of important world declarations and documents.
■	The primary purpose of dwellings is their use as accommodation; therefore, the basic goal of the housing policy is to enable citizen's access to appropriate apartments at available prices and to enable their inclusion in local environment.
■	It is within the competence of each country to decide how it will define a target group of households that will be entitled to assistance in obtaining a dwelling and how it will implement the policy of increasing access to this fundamental human need or right in practice. The housing policy should, as a rule, be set out in such a way that the largest assistance is allocated to households that need it the most.
Housing situations of young people
Figure 54: Shares of households of young people in which the holder of the household
is 15-24 years old, by tenure status, Slovenia, 2002 Census
%
50
40
30
20
10
owner, co-owner tenant	subtenant user (with parents, other
relatives)
tenure statuses
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, 2002 Census
■	Slovenia is facing a lack of dwellings and high rents for profit dwellings. An unresolved housing issue usually presents a single aspect of the social issues of individuals and of society.
■	Since young people are a very mobile group of the population (because of schooling and the finding of their first employment, creation of own family), it is even more difficult to establish the actual housing situation in which they live.
■	Young people who are trying to create their first home are in an especially difficult situation because they have to find an appropriate dwelling. Since dwelling prices and rents are extremely high (because of unstable employment possibilities - after finishing education, young people often cannot find appropriate employment - young people cannot obtain credit or pay rent), young people postpone movement from their parents' homes to a later period.
Housing situations of young people
Figure 55: Shares of young people (25-35 years) by the most common form of residence, Slovenia, 2004
%
60 —
40 —
20 —
25-27 years	28-31 years	32-35 years	TOTAL
age
□	joint household with parents	□ rented apartments
□	own apartment / partner's apartment ■ other
Source: The Student Organisation of the University of Ljubljana, Housing issues of young people, 2004
■	On average, young people in Slovenia leave their parents' homes very late in life. According to the survey carried out in August 2004 on the housing issues of young people, more than one half of young people aged 25-35 shared a household with their parents (57%). 35% of young people in this age group lived in their own dwelling or in the dwelling of their partner and 8% in a rented dwelling.
■	Most of the young people living in a household with their parents were 25-27 years old (79%), whereas more than half of people aged between 32 and 35 lived in their own dwellings (54%). The percentage of those living in rented dwellings amounted to 6-8% depending on the age group. As the main reasons for living with their parents the respondents stated lower costs and inability to afford their own dwelling.
Housing situations of young people
Figure 56: Shares of young people living in their own apartment by how they obtained their own apartment, Slovenia, 2004
ways of obtaining the apartment purchased with own resources
purchased by parents/partner's parents
purchased on credit
inherited
%
0 7 14 21 28 35 42
p suns
extended the house in which they live other
Source: The Student Organisation of the University of Ljubljana, Housing issues of young people, 2004
■	38% of respondents living in their own dwelling during the survey bought their dwelling with their own resources, less than one fifth of them bought the dwelling on credit, and less than one fifth of them lived in the dwelling purchased by their parents or their partner's parents. Compared to other regions of Slovenia, respondents from the Osrednjeslovenska statistical region purchased their dwellings to a smaller extent with their own resources and to a larger extent on credit.
■	According to data from the same survey, almost two fifths of young people who did not have their own dwelling saved for the purchase of their own dwelling or a house. Most commonly they saved money in the form of term deposits in banks or in the framework of the National Housing Savings Scheme.
Student residences
Table 16: Number of student residences1 and the number of residents in them, Slovenia, academic years 1998/99, 2003/4 and 2008/09
Number of residences TOTAL
Number of residents n elementary upper tertiary school pupils secondary students school pupils
1998/99
TOTAL	64 18,534 10,171	85 8,795 9,654
Upper secondary school
boarding homes	45 9,521	4,915	85 8,795	641
Student residences 19 9,013	5,256	-	- 9,013
TOTAL	68 17,902
Upper secondary school
boarding homes	43	8,127
Student
residences	25 9,775
2003/04 9,855
4,537
5,318
56
56
6,771
6,771
11,075
1,300 9,775
TOTAL	110 17,792
Upper secondary school
boarding homes	41	6,906
Student
residences	69 10,886
2008/09 9,855
4,537
5,318
31
31
5,221
5,221
12,540
1,654 10,886
1 and of private legal entities registered for the activity of student residences Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
■ In the 2008/09 school year, 6.0% of all upper secondary school pupils and over 16% of full-time university students were lodged in Slovenian student residences or in institutions that provide lodgings to school-aged youths - in total, there were 110 of such institutions. In other words, 16.4% of all full-time students, including candidates for graduation, were lodged in student residences or private legal entities registered for the activity of student residences.
Student residences
Figure 57: Number of student residences^, Slovenia, selected years (1985, 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2005-2009)
number 80-,
60-
40--
20--
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2006
2007
2008
□	upper secondary school boarding homes
□	student residences and private legal entities
2009 years
1 and of private legal entities registered for the activity of student residences Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
■ In the 2008/09 school year, 5,211 upper secondary school pupils, 1,654 university students and 31 elementary school pupils were lodged in 41 residences; 69 student residences (public and private) or private legal entities registered for the activity of student residences provided lodgings for 10,886 persons (in total, 17,792 persons were lodged).
Student residences
Figure 58: Number of residents in student residences, Slovenia, selected years (1985, 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2005-2009)
number (1,000) 15-.
2006
2007
2008
2009 years
1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
□	upper secondary school boarding homes
□	student residences and private legal entities Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
■ In the 2008/09 school year, 210,409 m2 of rooms or 9,505 bedrooms and 2,586 other rooms (classrooms, dining rooms, gyms, living rooms) were available to upper secondary school pupils and university students lodged in student residences or private legal entities. On average, less than 8 m2 was available to each pupil or student. Figure 59: Number of student residences1 and the number of residents in them, Slovenia, selected years (1985, 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2005-2009)
number of residences 75-,
60-h—
number of residents ,-15
esuRS
-1-12
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
□ upper secondary school boarding homes I I student residences
2006 2007 2008 2009
years
number of pupils in upper secondary school boarding homes _ number of students student residences
11 and of private legal entities registered for the activity of student residences Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
Student residences
Table 17: Rooms in student residences or at private legal entities registered for the activity of student residences, Slovenia, the 2008/09 academic year
TOTAL Upper secondary Student	Private
school boarding residences11	legal
homes	entities21
TOTAL	number of rooms	12,091	4,369	7,523	199
	area (m2)	210,409	109,795	96,247	4,367
Bedrooms	number of rooms	9,505	3,765	5,557	183
	area (m2)	139,892	67,960	67,798	4,134
Classrooms	number of rooms	615	333	281	1
	area (m2)	23,101	15,414	7,682	5
Dining rooms	number of rooms	1,301	45	1,251	5
	area (m2)	22,281	8,050	14,185	46
Halls	number of rooms	36	25	11	-
	area (m2)	4,676	3,411	1,265	-
Gyms	number of rooms	36	25	10	1
	area (m2)	6,407	5,486	849	72
Living rooms	number of rooms	598	176	413	9
	area (m2)	14,052	9,474	4,468	110
11 Student residences (public and private) are counted according to the location principle (aH units at one address
are considered as one home). 21 Data include private legal entities and private entrepreneurs registered for carrying out the activity of student residences.
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
Figure 60: Types of accommodation by age of students, Slovenia, 2006/07
%
100
80
60
40
20
TOTAL	up to 21	21-24
I I student residences I I own household
Source: The Eurostudent SI 2007 Survey
25-28	28+
age (years) El with parents or relatives
Student residences
■	In the 2007/08 academic year, 12,563 students or 16.8% of all full-time students in post-secondary and higher educational programmes were accommodated in student residences.
■	In 2007, the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology supported a research study on the economic, social and housing status and international mobility of students in Slovenia - Eurostudent SI 2007; a sample of the above research study covered full-time and part-time students in the higher undergraduate and post-graduate levels of education (except for doctoral students) in the 2006/07 academic year. The outcomes of this research study showed that students who were not accommodated in residences lived at home or with relatives (nearly 50%) or in their own household (35% of students). Younger students, especially, lived in student residences, older students (up to the age of 28) mostly lived with parents or other relatives, and even older students already had their own households. Nevertheless, over one third of students older than 28 were still living at home.
■	The research study Eurostudent SI 2007 also showed that in the 2006/07 academic year each student had expenses that amounted on average to over EUR 500 a month; approximately 40% of these expenses included accommodation and food. Each student enrolled in the independent higher education institution had on average much higher cost of living (on average over EUR 850 in 2006/07), mostly because of higher tuition fees.
■	The cost of living of students living in their own households was higher than the average cost of living of other students and amounted to an average of EUR 634 monthly in 2006/07. Those students paid on average EUR 163 for accommodation and a little less for food. The costs of their colleagues living with their parents were (mainly because of lower costs of accommodation and food) lower by over 50% (EUR 292).
Figure 61: Shares of young people (15-24 years) by way of arrival to and departure from school, Slovenia, 2002 Census
way of arrival to and departure from school
did not commute by bus
by private car as drivers by train
by foot or bicycle by private car as passengers by motorcycle other
^ TOTAL | | men | I women
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, 2002 Census
Student residences
Figure 62: Shares of young people (15-24 years) by way of arrival to and departure from the workplace, Slovenia, 2002 Census
15
=s=
30
=s=
45
=s=
60
=s=
way of arrival to and departure 0 from the workplace
did not commute by private car as drivers by foot or bicycle by private car as passengers by bus by train by motorcycle other
^ TOTAL | | men | I women
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, 2002 Census
75
=s=
90
Unemployment of young people is a general concern Figure 63: Unemployment rate, EU-27 Member States, 2000 and 2008
rate 21
18
15129 6 3
1
EU-27 NL DK CY AT CZ 51 LU EE BG UK LT RO IE MT SE Fl IT BE PL DE LV GR PT FR HU SK ES
countries
I I 2000 □ 2008
Source: Eurostat
■	The transition from education to the labour market, which is a turning point in the life of an individual, is changing in Slovenia too, since more and more young people continue education at tertiary level. The age of young people in this transitional period is increasing and the duration of this transition is becoming longer and more uncertain. The traditional form of permanent employment is often replaced by new forms, i.e. "less secure forms of employment" which are often only short-term. The transition from the labour market to educational programmes and the return to the labour market are typical modern trends on the labour market. This is especially true for young people or everyone seeking their first employment.
■	The unemployment rate in the EU-27 has been abruptly increasing since March 2008 as a result of the economic crisis. The increase in unemployment is present in all EU-27 Member States, in men and women, young and old; however, the scope and weight of this phenomenon in individual countries differ substantially. Men are more "affected" than women and young people are more vulnerable than other age groups (the unemployment rate in those groups has especially increased).
■	In July 2009, the unemployment rate in 16 countries with the euro reached 9.5%, whereas in July 2008 the percentage was only 7.5% (the unemployment rate in the entire European Union was 9% and only 7% in the previous year). The unemployment rate in the euro area has not been that high since May 1999. Eurostat estimates that there were 21.79 million unemployed people in the European Union or 5.11 million more than in the previous year.
Unemployment of young people is a general concern
■ The lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Netherlands (3.4%), Austria (4.4%) and Cyprus (5.5%). Slovenia still ranked among the countries with the lowest unemployment rates and is ranked 5th with a 6% unemployment rate, immediately after Denmark (5.9%). In the past year, the unemployment rate dramatically increased in the Baltic States, i.e. in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The unemployment rate in all these three countries was approximately 15% with the highest percentage in Latvia (17.4%). Spain experienced an even worse situation: this country transformed from a "prosperous economy" into a country with the highest unemployment rate in the European Union which was 18.5%. In July 2009, the unemployment rate in the USA was 9.4% and 5.7% in Japan.
Figure 64: Unemployment rate for young people (up to 25 years), EU-27 Member States,
second quarter of 2008 and second quarter of 2009
%
50-,
40-
30
20-
10-
EU-27 NL AT DE DK CY CZ MT BG SI LU UK FT PL BE RO FR IE GR SK HU IT EE Fl SE LT LV ES
I I 2nd quarter, 2008 □ 2nd quarter, 2009
Source: Eurostat
■	Nowadays, Slovenia - as the entire Europe - deals with unemployment issues; in the future, population ageing in this area will presumably result in a "demographic shock". Since Europe is becoming a community of an ageing population, this will eventually result in a lack of workforce. The number of economically active citizens in Europe will decrease by almost 7% (21 million) by 2030.
■	Although 7 million jobs were created between 2005 and 2007, the Lisbon process did not entirely manage to decrease the unemployment of young people (15-24). According to data of the European Commission, in 2006 their average unemployment rate in the EU-27 was 17.4%, while the unemployment rate of young people in Slovenia in 2007 was lower (13.6%). The common goal of the entire EU is to achieve higher employability of young people and to ensure the transition from the educational system to the labour market as soon as possible and to increase the mobility of young people. To do so, one must ensure flexibility, whereby young people constantly need to correspond to the needs of the labour market, and establish an appropriate balance between work and family, as the uncertainty of employment affects the creation of a family.
Unemployment of young people is a general concern
■	The unemployment rate for young men and women in the EU was almost the same in the first quarter of 2008 (14.7% for young women and 14.6% for young men). In the first quarter of 2009, the unemployment rate for young men, however, increased to 19.1% and the unemployment rate for young women to 17.4%. In the EU as a whole and in most EU-27 Member States the unemployment rate was, as usual, the highest for young people. In the first quarter of 2009, the unemployment rate for young men was higher than the unemployment rate for young women in 16 EU-27 Member States, whereas in the first quarter of 2008 this was true only in 11 EU-27 Member States.
■	Today, the unemployment of young people is not just the problem of individual countries but a growing "European" concern. According to the newest data of the Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat), the unemployment rate of young people in EU-27 Member States is still increasing. After 3 years of decrease the unemployment rate in the EU in the first quarter of 2008 started to increase, especially for young people. In the first quarter of 2009, the unemployment rate of people aged between 15 and 24 in the EU-27 was 18.3%, which is significantly higher than the overall unemployment rate (8.2% - meaning that 5 million young people in the EU-27 were unemployed).
Figure 65: Unemployment rate for young people by sex, EU-27 Member States, 2009
%
50-,
40-
30-
20-
10-
EU-27 NL AT DE DK CY CZ MT BG SI UK FT RO PL LU BE Fl FX EE GR IT IE SK HU SE LV LT ES
countries
I I TOTAL	□ men
Source: Eurostat
■	Between the first quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009, the unemployment rate for young people in the EU-27 increased by 3.7 percentage points, whereas in the same period the overall unemployment rate increased by 1.5 percentage points. The unemployment rate for young people increased in all Member States, except in Bulgaria where the rate dropped from 13.9% in the first quarter of 2008 to 13.5% in the first quarter of 2009.
■	The unemployment rate for young people increased the most in Latvia (from 11% to 28.2%), Estonia (from 7.6% to 24.1%) and Lithuania (from 9.5% to 23.6%); it increased the least in Germany (from 10.2% to 10.5%) and Poland (from 17.8% to 18.2%). In the first quarter of 2009, 12% or 12,000 young people in Slovenia were unemployed, which is 1% more than in the previous year.
Unemployment of young people is a general concern
■ In the first quarter of 2009, in aH Member States the unemployment rate of young people was higher that the overall unemployment rate: from 6% in the Netherlands to 33.6% in Spain, whereas the overall unemployment rate was between 2.9% in the Netherlands and 16.5% in Spain. The biggest differences were observed in Italy (unemployment rate for young people 24.9%, overall unemployment rate 7.4%), Spain (33.6% and 16.5%) and Sweden (24.2% and 7.7%), while the smallest differences were observed in Germany (10.5% and 7.4%), the Netherlands (6% and 2.9%) and Denmark (8.9% and 4.7%).
Figure 66: Unemployed young people (15-24 years) by duration of unemployment and sex, Slovenia, selected years (1996, 2001 and 2008)
duration of employment by sex
less than 12 months - total
more than 12 months - total
less than 12 months - women
more than 12 months - women
less than 12 months - men
more than 12 months - men
I I 1996 □ 2001 □ 2008
Source: Employment Service of Slovenia
■	Various analyses show that young people on the labour market are often in a worse position compared to other age groups. The behaviour of young people and the seekers of first employment on the labour market depend on a number of factors, mostly on the school system on one hand and the conditions on the labour market on the other.
■	Among the facts that decisively influenced the employment of young people in Slovenia in the past few years, the most important were education and a relatively rigid labour market. The prolongation of education, on one hand, positively contributes to the enhancement of the educational structure of the workforce, whereas on the other hand, it decreases the activity of young people. The problem of a "long" education is also linked with the lack of work experience of young people, since they enter the labour market after reaching the age of 24 or over but have no relevant work experience as seekers of their first employment.
■	Students in professional or academic higher educational levels are mostly unemployed; in the 2007/08 academic year, 12% of graduates from higher undergraduate educational programmes were employed. Most of them (approximately 50%) were part-time students.
%
15	30	45	60	75
©suns
Unemployment of young people is a general concern
■ Among the students of professional post-secondary schools the ratio between the employed and the unemployed was more equal, among the post-graduate students at a higher level of education the employed prevailed over the unemployed (in that year, two students out of three were employed).
Figure 67: Activity level of young people (15-24 years) by age group and sex, Slovenia,
second quarters of the years 2003-2008
%
©SUBS
								
								
	—rTl-	-		t	-		-	
[	i		n			M		
15-19 20-24 15-24	15-19 20-24 15-24	15-19 20-24 15-24
TOTAL	men	women
age groups by sex
I I 2003 □ 2004 □ 2005 □ 2006 □ 2007 ■ 2008
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, LFS
■	The activity level of young people in Slovenia, aged between 15 and 24, has been increasing since 2003. In 2008, the activity level was 41.1%, which is less than the EU-27 average (44.1%). In 2008, the activity level for young women was 35.4% and for young men 46.2%. In 2008, the activity level for young women dropped to a certain extent compared to 2006 and was under the average of the EU-27 (40.6%), similar to the activity level for men (the EU-27: 47.4%).
■	By 2008, the activity level of young people in Slovenia decreased (compared to 1996), mostly because of the growing number of those who decided to continue education. In 2006, there were approximately 20% fewer active young women than in 1996. The percentage of active young people with a completed elementary school education is decreasing, whereas the percentage of young people with tertiary education is increasing. Women have a better educational structure than men. According to the Labour Force Survey, the percentage of inactive young people who are not included in educational programmes or other forms of training is decreasing; in 2002 their share was 6.9% and in 2008 3.5%.
Unemployment of young people is a general concern Table 18: Typical groups of registered unemployed persons, Slovenia, 1998-2008
Years Registered unemployed	% of registered unemployed
average aged to seeking	women unemployed without 50 years people
number 26 years their first	over professional old	with
% employment (%)	1 year education or older disabilities
1998	126,080	26.3	18.1	49.9	61.7	46.9	21.8	9.9
1999	118,951	25.8	18.7	50.6	63.7	47.5	18.2	12.5
2000	106,601	23.4	17.9	50.7	62.9	47.2	27.5	16.1
2001	101,857	24.1	18.8	50.8	58.9	47.0	27.0	18.3
2002	102,635	24.0	19.6	51.2	54.4	47.0	25.4	18.3
2003	97,674	26.1	23.2	52.8	48.6	44.2	21.4	10.7
2004	92,826	26.2	25.2	53.1	46.2	41.6	21.0	9.2
2005	91,889	24.2	24.3	53.8	47.3	40.8	22.7	9.9
2006	85,836	21.2	22.3	54.8	48.8	39.3	25.4	10.9
2007	71,336	16.7	19.4	54.9	51.2	39.3	31.1	13.8
2008	63,216	14.4	16.9	52.8	51.1	40.1	30.6	16.8
Source: Employment Service of Slovenia
Figure 68: Young people (18-24 years) who finished education without a qualification,
EU-27 Member States, 2002 and 2007
%
60-,
©sons
50
40
30
20
10-
EU-27 SI PL CZ SK Fl LT HU AT IE NL SE BE DK CY DE FR UK EE GR LU LV BG RO IT ES PT MT
countries
I I 2002 □ 2007
Source: Eurostat, LFS
Unemployment of young people is a general concern
■	Young people who finish education without a qualification are 18-24 years old and had not received any certificate of finished education or training in the 4 weeks prior to the survey (the highest level of education or training achieved according to the ISCED classification: 0, 1 or 2). Slovenia is also included in the project entitled "Young people who finish education without a qualification". It is led by the Belgian organisation Qec-Eran; the basic aim of this project is to create conditions for the learning and exchange of experience among the experts who, in the European and domestic environments, deal with the target group of underprivileged young people, and to lay down an integrated approach for the social inclusion of young people. When performing their activity, they focus on the connection between the system of education and training and the economy in order to open new ways for the entry of young people to the labour market and form various approaches to enable young people without an education to acquire further knowledge and improve their employment possibilities.
■	The unemployment of young people is a serious issue not only in Slovenia but is dealt with on the level of the whole Europe, thus special attention is dedicated to the decrease of the unemployment rate for young people. In the past year, the number of young unemployed people (aged up to 26) in Slovenia decreased: the share of unemployed young people decreased from 16.4% to 13.2% from December 2007 to June 2008. The average waiting period of young unemployed people for work (registered at the Employment Service of Slovenia) was 9.7 months, which was lower than for the rest of the unemployed persons (27.8 months).
Figure 69: Young people (18-24 years) who finished education without a qualification by sex, EU-27 Member States1), 2007
50-,
40-
30-
20-
10--
EU-27 SI PL CZ LT SK Fl CY IE DK HU NL AT BE GR SE FR LU UK DE LV IT BG RO ES PT MT EE
countries
^ men I I women
1 No data for women in EE. Source: Eurostat, LFS
Unemployment of young people is a general concern
■ Today, insecurity on the labour market is one of the most expressive characteristics of young people in Europe; as a consequence, they are also exposed to a larger risk of social exclusion and social inequality in other areas of life. In 2006, the number of unemployed people in Slovenia compared to the previous year decreased by over 5,000 (mostly on account of the employment of men, since the number of unemployed women did not significantly change compared to the previous year); in 2006, the LFS unemployment rate in Slovenia (calculated according to the Eurostat methodology) was 6.0% and 7.9% in the European Union (EU-27). The unemployment rate was the highest for young people, aged between 15 and 24, and reached the value of 13.9% - 11.6% for men and 17.0% for women.
Table 19: Age structure of registered unemployed people (18-30 years), Slovenia, 2000-2008
				Years				
2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
TOTAL 104,583	104,316	99,607	95,993	90,728	92,575	78,303	68,411	66,239
to 18 years 505	523	359	285	270	274	180	98	117
over 18 to 25 years 22,193	22,924	21,828	22,206	20,437	19,003	12,380	9,046	8,282
over 25 to 30 years 11,467	12,588	13,471	14,524	14,754	15,750	13,174	10,581	9,824
%								
TOTAL 100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
to 18 years 0.5	0.5	0.4	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.1	0.2
over 18 to 25 years 21.2	22	21.9	23.1	22.5	20.5	15.8	13.2	12.5
over 25 to 30 years 11.0	12.1	13.5	15.1	16.3	17	16.8	15.5	14.8
Source: Employment Service of Slovenia
■	According to the data of the Employment Service of Slovenia, in 2004 11.9% of economically active citizens in Slovenia were unemployed, whereas there were 26.2% of unemployed economically active people aged up to 26 years. In 2006, the registered unemployment rate decreased by 0.8 of a percentage point compared to 2005 and reached 9.4%. In 2007 and 2008, the rate continued to decrease and reached 7.7% and 6.7%.
■	At the end of July 2009, 88,457 unemployed persons were registered at the Employment Service of Slovenia. Compared to December 2008, the unemployment rate increased by 33.5%; compared with July 2008, the unemployment rate increased by 43.7%.
■	Unemployment in Slovenia affects young educated people more and more, i.e. people with finished tertiary education. Between 2000 and 2007, the percentage of unemployed people with higher level of education almost doubled (from 4.5% to 8%). With the beginning of the economic and financial crisis, the percentage of highly educated unemployed people from December 2008 to June 2009 increased from 9.3% to 10.5%, whereas the absolute number doubled - from 4,500 to 9,350. The number of young unemployed people increased from 2,145 at the beginning of 2009 to 3,178 at the beginning of September 2009. More needs to be done in this field, since in 2007, 16,680 students graduated at the tertiary level; 17,221 of them graduated in 2008; 18,919 candidates for graduation were enrolled in 2008. In the Employment Forecast for 2009 (the results of the LP-ZAP survey) carried out every year by the Employment Service of Slovenia, the employers for 2009 predicted 26,921 job vacancies, of which 25.1% were intended for tertiary education, which represents approximately 6,750 posts, of which only one in every four is permanent.
At the 2002 Census, 300,000 young people (15-29 years) lived in families Figure 70: Families by type and age of wife, partner or mother, Slovenia, 2002 Census
15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-74 75+
family types
□	TOTAL	□ unmarried partners with children
□	married couple with children I_I unmarried partners without children
□	married couple without children ■ mother with children
1 Each family type = 100
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, 2002 Census
■	The social environment and its changes throughout history have had a significant effect on the family, which is a cornerstone of society. The time in which we are currently living, is defined in sociology as a post-modern age or the age of "reaching beyond". Slovenia did not avoid the phenomena typical of this age (including the departure from traditional values and a sort of "disorder" in which great social-development transformations, etc., may reflect). The process of rapid demographic and socio-economic changes after World War II in Slovenia and in the world substantially influenced the patterns for the formation of a family and family life and caused changes in the structure and formation of families.
■	Today, the so-called "classical" multigenerational families with at least three generations living together (grandparents, parents and their children) are rare and can at present mostly be found in non-urban areas; however, the way of life and "new values" of society have already affected the human relations and the co-existence of people in communities.
At the 2002 Census, 300,000 young people (15-29 years) lived in families Figure 71: Families by type and age of husband, partner or father, Slovenia, 2002 Census
% 25-
20-
15-
10-
	
	
J	J

under 15 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-74 75+
family types
□	total	□ unmarried partners with children
□	married couple with children □ unmarried partners without children
□	married couple without children ■ mother with children
1 Each family type = 100
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, 2002 Census
■	At the 2002 population census in Slovenia, not all people lived in families: 150,000 people lived alone (single-member households) with the prevailing proportion being women (93,000 or 62%) compared to men (57,000 or 38%), which by 2.2-times exceeds the data for 1948 and is the highest percentage of single-member households in Slovenia after World War II. In 2002, younger and middle-aged men were living in single-member households in Slovenia, whereas most women in single-member households had already reached the age of 60.
■	At the 2002 population census, the majority (1,700,000 or 78%) out of 2 million people in Slovenia were living in families: 89% of all men and 84% of all women. 41% of people living in families were children and 59% adults; 27.4% were husbands, fathers or unmarried partners and 31.8% were wives, mothers or unmarried partners.
■	A decrease in the average number of family members in Slovenia between the 1991 and 2002 censuses was to a great extent caused by an increase in the number of families with one child and without children (although it would be incorrect to conclude that these were only young couples who did not decide to have children; this group also included families of "older" couples without children because they had already grown up and created their own families or moved away from home and their parents were left alone when the last child left - "an empty nest family").
■	Although the number of families is growing (between 1981 and 2002 it increased by 34,000 or 6.5%), the percentage of families consisting of couples with children is decreasing, whereas the percentage of couples without children is increasing. The number of families in which only children live with one of the parents is also increasing.
At the 2002 Census, 300,000 young people (15-29 years) lived in families
Figure 72: Families by age group of husband, partner or father and wife, partner or mother, Slovenia, 2002 Census
% 15-,
12 9
___d_
under 15 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-74 75+
age (years)
I I TOTAL husband / partner / father I I TOTAL wife / partner / mother
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, 2002 Census
Figure 73: Families by age group of married couples with children and by sex of the
spouse, Slovenia, 2002 Census
%
20-,
16-
12-
				-						
							-			
										
									-j -	
,-n										inhm
under 15 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-74 75+
age (years)
■ married couple with children - husband n married couple with children - wife
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, 2002 Census
At the 2002 Census, 300,000 young people (15-29 years) lived in families
Figure 74: Families by age group of married couples without children and by sex of the
spouse, Slovenia, 2002 Census
%
20-, ______
16
12-
			-	—		
						
						
n I						
,-n ITI fh m ifl						
do 15 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-74 75+
age (years)
I I married couple without children - husband I I married couple without children - wife
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, 2002 Census
Figure 75: Families by age group of unmarried partners with children and by sex of the
spouse, Slovenia, 2002 Census
%
25
20
15-
10-
			-					
					i-i			
						-		
n							-i	
								fh n-, ^
do 15 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-74 75+
age (years)
□	unmarried partners with children - male partner
□	unmarried partners with children - female partner
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, 2002 Census
At the 2002 Census, 300,000 young people (15-29 years) lived in families
Figure 76: Families by age group of unmarried partners without children and by sex of
the spouse, Slovenia, 2002 Census
%
25
20-
15-
10.
											
	_		-								
									p"		
-n											mm
do 15 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-74 75+
I-1	age (years)
I_I unmarried partners without children - male partner
□ unmarried partners without children - female partner
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, 2002 Census
Figure 77: Single-parent families by age group of father and mother, Slovenia, 2002
Census
%
16
12.
do 15 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-74 75+
age (years)
□ father with children □ mother with children
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, 2002 Census
At the 2002 Census, 300,000 young people (15-29 years) lived in families
Figure 78: Children (15-29 years) who live in families with their parents, Slovenia,
2002 Census
%
80.
60.
40-
20-
h U h m
15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
I I child in a family with married parents I I child lives only with its mother □ child in a family with unmarried parents □ child lives only with its father
age (years)
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia; 2002 Census
Figure 79: Children who live in families by age group, Slovenia, 2002 Census
% 20-
16.
12-
n m
0-4 5-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60+
age groups
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, 2002 Census
At the 2002 Census, 300,000 young people (15-29 years) lived in families
■	At the 2002 population census, 402,875 adolescents (0-18 years) lived in families. At that time, 80% of children lived in families with both parents, 335,509 of them were adolescents or 83.3% of all children of such age in families. 297,566 or 73.9% of these children lived in families with married parents, and 37,943 or 9.4% lived in families with unmarried parents.
■	At the 2002 population census, 4-times more children lived with both parents than with a single parent: 555,000 children lived with a father and a mother, 140,000 with a single parent. Fewer children lived only with their fathers and they were somewhat older than the ones living alone with their mothers. 61,816 or 13.6% of adolescents lived in single-parent families. 54,709 or 13.6% of these children lived only with their mothers and 7,107 or 1.8% of them lived only with their fathers.
■	At the last population census, the mean age of children in families with children was 17.5 years. The youngest children on average (10.5-year-olds) were living in families of unmarried couples with children; on average, the oldest children were children in single-parent families. Children who lived in families only with their fathers were almost 23 years old on average, while children who lived in families with mothers only were a year younger.
Research and development activity in Slovenia Figure 80: R&D expenditure as % of GDP, EU-27, 2007
4-,
3.5-
2.521.510.5. 0-
Lisbon objective, 2010
EU-27 CY SK BG RO GR PL LV MT LT HU IT EE FT ES IE SI CZ LU NL UK BE FX DE DK AT Fl SE
countries
Source: Eurostat
■	Science, technology and innovation are frequently dealt with in the EU as the main driving forces behind economic growth and the present and future development.
■	In 2000 in Lisbon, the European Council laid down the "Lisbon Strategy" with the goal of transforming the EU by 2010 into "the most competitive and dynamic economy based on knowledge and capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and enhanced social cohesion". In 2002 in Barcelona, the European Council added that the Member States should spend at least 3% of their GDP on research by 2010, whereby two thirds of these resources should by financed by the business sector.
■	At the spring sessions of the European Council in 2006 and 2007, a principle was adopted as one of the four priority areas in the Member States entitled "more investment in knowledge and innovation".
■	With the adoption of the Green Paper "The European Research Area: New Perspectives" in 2007, the European Commission launched "a broad institutional and public debate on what needs to be done to foster a more unified and attractive European Research Area".
■	According to the Eurostat data, the percentage of GDP for research and development in 2007 remained stable in the EU-27 Member States, i.e. 1.85% of GDP, whereas researchers represented almost 1% of all employed people.
■	The highest percentages were recorded in Sweden (3.60% of GDP) and Finland (3.47%), followed by Austria (2.56%), Denmark (2.55%) and Germany (2.54%), while the lowest percentages were recorded in Cyprus (0.45%), Slovakia (0.46%), Bulgaria (0.48%) and Romania (0.53%). The highest intensity in the growth of research and development between 2001 and 2007 was established in Austria (from 2.07% to 2.56% of GDP), Estonia (from 0.71% to 1.14%) and Portugal (from 0.80% to 1.18%).
Research and development activity in Slovenia
Figure 81: Researchers by sector of employment and age group11, Slovenia, 2007
%
50-,
esuRS
40----
30—
20 —
10 —
0 J—I-l=l------------
business sector	government sector	higher	private
education sector	non-profit sector
employment sectors
□ all ages I I younger than 25 I I 25-34 years
1 AH age groups and aH sectors = 100 Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
■	In 2007, gross domestic expenditure on R&D in Slovenia slightly increased. The expenditure amounted to EUR 500.5 million and was over 3% higher than in 2006 and represented 1.45% of Slovene gross domestic product. Compared to 2006, this percentage decreased by 0.14 of a percentage point.
■	The extent of gross domestic expenditure on R&D was larger in 2007 than in 2006 for all science fields except for the field of humanities, where expenditure decreased by 4%. In 2007, the most financial resources were directed into technical and technological areas. This expenditure represented 44% of all financial resources dedicated for research and development activity.
■	In the last few years, the number of people employed in R&D has increased, including women. In 2007, 14,311 persons (5,541 women) were employed in R&D in Slovenia. The total number of persons employed in this activity increased by over 5% compared to 2006; the number of women increased by over 4%.
■	In 2007, 8,742 researchers were employed in the R&D in Slovenia. The higher education sector was in first place in terms of the number and percentage of researchers, followed by the business and government sectors. In 2007, 67% of researchers in Slovenia were aged from 25 to 44, only 1.45% of them (or 127 researchers) were younger than 25 and only 1.5% of them were older than 65.
(Un)health of young people
■	Young Europeans1 mostly assess that their health is very good but this depends on the culture from which they come.
■	Obesity negatively affects one's health, in the long and short term. In addition to obesity, problems are also caused by thinness, but usually both of them are connected with the self-image of young people. There are two main reasons for obesity in an increasing number of young people in Europe. The first reason is a change in eating habits since more and more young people eat in fast food restaurants; the other reason is an increased level of inactivity among young people - an increasing number of young people drive cars and spend their free time in front of TV-sets and computers. The countries with the highest share of obese young people are Germany (42.7%), Malta (47.8%) and the United Kingdom (53.1%) and the countries with lowest share of obese young people are Latvia (10%), Slovakia (10.3%) and France (10.6%). Analyses show that there are more obese boys than girls.
■	The World Health Organisation identified tobacco smoking as one of the reasons for premature illnesses and deaths in developed countries. Young smokers usually become addicted to tobacco before they grow up completely, which is why they find it harder to give up smoking and have more tobacco-related health problems. The later the person starts smoking the fewer the chances they will become addicted. The largest number of young smokers was recorded in Bulgaria where 31% of young people aged 15-24 and 50% of young people aged 25-34 smoked. The fewest young smokers were observed in Sweden and Slovakia, i.e. less than 20%.
■	In addition to the influence of a number of social factors, teenagers also tend to drink alcohol on the basis of their personal beliefs and goals as well as the family and social environment. On average, the earliest drunkenness appears in Austria while this age limit is somewhat higher in Mediterranean countries. In most countries, over 80% of young Europeans aged 17 to 18 consumed alcohol in the past 12 months, especially in Denmark and the Czech Republic (95% each).
■	Marijuana is the most popular drug among young people aged 15-34. It is most commonly used by persons aged between 15 and 24. According to estimates, it is presumed that in 2006 approximately 23 million Europeans consumed marijuana. Cocaine was in second place, after cannabis, although its consumption in Europe was not equally distributed (shares by countries are from 0.4% to 7.7%). In 2005, the use of cocaine was significantly high in Spain and the United Kingdom (5%) but strongly behind marijuana. In Bulgaria and the Mediterranean countries, such as Greece, Cyprus and Malta, the consumption of drugs was the lowest.
■	In Slovenia, every year on average 47 young people die because of injuries and poisoning and over 2,200 young people are admitted for hospital treatment every year.
1 Source: European Commission, http://ec.europa.eu/youth/news/doc/new_strategy/youth_report_final.pdf
(Un)health of young people
Figure 82: Share of non-smokers, occasional and daily smokers (15-24 years) among
residents, EU-27 Member States1), 1993-20032)
%
100
80.
60-
40-
20
PT IT PL RO CY FR SK Fl BE CZ MT UK DK GR EE IE SE NL ES LT BG SI HU LV DE AT
countries
^ non-smokers	I I occasional smokers I I daily smokers
" No data for LU
2) Data collected in the mentioned period. Source: Eurostat
■	Healthy youth is very important for a healthy society, which is especially true in a demographic situation such as in Slovenia. A number of factors influence the health of teenagers and young people, including social and environmental factors; however, problems in the maturing population can be very different (from insignificant behavioural problems to very serious illnesses).
■	According to the Survey on Living Conditions, EU-SILC, Slovenia, 2005, the most frequent answer of people to the question on their condition of health was "good" (39%). 15% of the population believed that they were very healthy, 30% believed that their health was rather good, 13% said that they had poor health and 3% of that they had very poor health. The opinion of the population on their health condition is strongly linked with their age. 87% of young people aged between 16 and 25 assessed their condition of health as very good or good, whereas 40% of people older than 66 assessed their general condition of health as poor or very poor.
(Un)health of young people Figure 83: Daily smokers among all residents by sex, EU-27 Member States1, 2003
% 60.
50.
40.
30.
20.
10
SE Fl IE FT UK SK BE MT DE NL FR CZ IT RO ES DK HU CY AT GR PL BG LT SI EE LV
countries
I I men I I women
" No data for LU. Source: Eurostat
■	In general, the consumption of tobacco is decreasing, but it is still increasing among youths and women. Smoking damages every organ in the human body and is in first place among the reasons for mortality and ill-health that could be prevented. Ill-health and mortality due to smoking-related illnesses significantly increased for regular smokers compared to non-smokers. Research studies confirmed the causal link between smoking and the development of a number of diseases and health problems in smokers, especially cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Approximately 50% of regular smokers die because of smoking-related diseases, half of them die prematurely. Smoking-related diseases often cause long-term illness and early disability; this is related to the high cost of medical care and at the same time causes more frequent absence from work.
■	The World Drug Report 2008, drawn up by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, states that in the past year, every 20th person in the world aged between 15 and 64 at least once consumed illicit drugs. Approximately 208 million people in the world consume illicit drugs, which is less than 5% of the adult world population; every year, 200,000 people die because of illicit drugs, which is 0.4% of all deaths in the world.
■	25-times more, or 4.9 million people, die because of tobacco use, which represents 8.8% of all deaths. If we used as a criterion the shortening of life because of an illness, drug abuse would cause the loss of 11.2 million healthy life years, whereas tobacco would cause the loss of a 5-times larger number of healthy life years (59.1 million).
(Un)health of young people
Figure 84: Daily smokers (15-24 years) among residents by sex, EU-27 Member States1, 2003
50-,
40-
30-
20-
10-4
SE RO SK Fl PL PT BE IT MT IE NL FR UK CZ BG DK GR SI ES LT CY DE LV AT HU EE
countries
□ men □ women
" No data for LU. Source: Eurostat
■	Most people start smoking at an age when their level of critical judgement is not ultimately formed, which is a fact tobacco manufacturers are fully aware of. Early addiction is the main way "to restore" the number of smokers - when addiction to nicotine develops, it is extremely hard to stop smoking. The sooner young people start smoking, the more addicted they will be, the more they will smoke as adults, the longer they will smoke and the harder it will be for them to stop smoking. Fewer people start smoking as adults. Approximately 80-90% of adult smokers already became regular smokers before the end of the teenage period. Research studies on the extent of smoking in young people in Slovenia show that most young people do not smoke. Less than 30% of adolescents aged between 15 and 16 (more girls than boys) smoke. The age of people when they first smoked a cigarette is decreasing and has fallen to the age of 13. A large number of young people, especially boys, try smoking before the age of 10.
■	Despite the achieved progress, there are still many smokers in most countries, since approximately one third of the EU population smokes; the consequences for health speak for themselves - approximately 650,000 people in the EU die because of smoking every year. Almost half of them are aged between 35 and 69, which is a lot less than the life expectancy.
(Un)health of young people
Figure 85: Regular and occasional smokers and non-smokers by age, Slovenia, 2007
%
100.
80.
60-
40-
20-
TOTAL
15-29
30-44
45-64
65 +
age groups
^ every day | I occasionally | I don't smoke
11 Each age group = 100
Source: Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Slovenia, EHIS 2007
■	By means of the "Flash Eurobarometer" research study on tobacco (Flash No 253) of December 2008, interesting data were collected showing that: 3 out of every 10 EU citizens aged 15 or over said that they smoked daily; 26% of them smoked every day, 5% of them smoked occasionally. Almost 50% of the respondents said that they never smoked, 22% of them said that they had stopped smoking. The highest percentage of smokers in the EU-27 was in Greece (42%), followed by Bulgaria (39%), Latvia (37%), and Romania, Hungary, Lithuania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia (36% each).
■	9% of the respondents aged between 15 and 24 smoked occasionally compared to 23% of people who smoked every day. In this age group the most likely answer was that they never smoked (60% compared to 46% of residents of all ages). Among the most educated people in this age group, there were more people who had never smoked than people who smoked every day or occasionally (there were only 36% of regular and occasional smokers), whereas 47% or 48% of people of the same age with only a lower level of education were regular and occasional smokers. Most likely, non-smokers in this age group (15-24 years) would be exposed to passive smoking at home (27% and 17% compared to the average of 14%).
(Un)health of young people
Figure 86: Alcohol drinking habits of young people, EU-27 Member States1), 2003
%
©suns
																						
																						
			-														>	-	-	1	-	>
1		1		1	1	1						1		1	1							
PT SE RO Fl CY HU FR IT SI LT BG PL EE MT SK GR BE DE LV IE UK NL CZ AT DK
countries
I I drank alcohol 40-times or more in lifetime I I was drunk 20-times or more in lifetime
" No data for DE and ES. Source: ESPAD, 2003
■	According to expert estimates, approximately 9% of all illnesses, 3-10% of all deaths among the population of a certain country and 15% of lost years of potential life before the age of 65 are related to the abuse of alcohol. A lot of "unnecessary expenses" which are related to alcohol abuse (medical costs, reduced capability to work and the related reduced productivity because of a higher rate of incidence of a disease, the loss of income because of premature deaths and the cost related to property damage) are a large economic burden for individuals, families and society and according to expert estimates amount to 2-5% of gross domestic product.
■	Alcohol consumption among adolescents is increasing according to the data of the ESPAD research study (the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs). In 2003, 27.3% of male upper secondary school pupils and 18.5% of female upper secondary school pupils had already been drunk by the age of 13. 72.4% of male upper secondary school pupils and 64.7 % of female upper secondary school pupils had drunk beer by the age of 13. 68.1% of male upper secondary school pupils and 63.1% of female upper secondary school pupils had drunk wine by the age of 13. 41.7% of male upper secondary school pupils and 34.6% of female upper secondary school pupils had drunk spirits by the age of 13. Only 7.3% of male upper secondary school pupils and 9.3% of female upper secondary school pupils had never drunk alcohol. 32.2% of male upper secondary school pupils and 18.1% of female upper secondary school pupils had drunk alcohol more than 40-times in their lives. The ESPAD research study includes 15- and 16-year-old upper secondary school pupils. Some other research studies (HBSC) also show worrying data. In 2005, the mean age of boys when they first consumed alcohol was 12.8 years and of girls 13.3 years.
(Un)health of young people
According to the estimates of the Directorate-General for Health and Consumers of the European Commission (June 2007), approximately 55 million adults in the EU drank alcoholic beverages in harmful quantities and 23 million were addicted to alcohol. It is especially worrying that in the last 10 years there was a significant increase in the number of young people with hazardous drinking patterns (juvenile drinking, intoxication). The harmful use of alcohol represents a serious threat to public health. The EU thus supports its Member States in their efforts to prevent the causes of alcohol consumption and reduce the consequences of the harmful use of alcohol on health as well as social and economic consequences.
Figure 87: Consumption of a litre of pure alcohol per person aged 15+, EU-27 Member States1), selected years (1970, 1990 and 2003)
litre of pure alcohol per person
countries
I I 1970 □ 1990 □ 2003
" No data for MT, GR, LV, LT, SI, EE and the EU-27 for 1970. No data for EE for 1990. Source: EUPHIX, www.euphix.org
■ The European Union is also competent and responsible for solving problems in the field of public health, such as harmful and hazardous alcohol consumption with supplementing national actions in this field. In 2001, the Council of the European Union adopted the Recommendation on the drinking of alcohol by young people, in particular children and adolescents, which invites the European Commission to follow-up, assess and monitor developments and the measures taken, and to report back on the need for further actions. In 2006, the European Commission adopted the Communication to the Council of the European Union, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and to the Committee of the Regions entitled "An EU strategy to support Member States in reducing alcohol related harm" which defines the approach of the European Community for the support and enforcement of the harmonised strategy for the reduction of alcohol related harm.
(Un)health of young people
■	In the European Union, alcohol consumption is the highest in the world; however, 11 litres of pure alcohol consumed on average by each adult still represents a large decrease compared to the peak in mid-1970s; at that time, alcohol consumption was assessed at 15 litres per adult. The level of alcohol consumption in the EU-15 has become equal in the past 40 years, whereby between 1960 and 1980 the level of consumption was increasing in Central and Northern Europe and gradually decreasing in Southern Europe. The average alcohol consumption in the EU-10 is closer to the level of consumption in the EU-15 more than ever, although there are substantial differences among the EU-10 Member States.
■	Most Europeans drink alcohol but 55 million adults (15%) abstain from alcohol drinking; considering this fact and non-registered consumption, consumption for those who drink alcohol reaches 15 litres annually.
■	Less than 50% of this alcohol is consumed as beer (44%), the rest is divided into wine (34%) and spirits (23%). In Northern and Central parts of the European Union (EU-15) people mostly drink beer, in Southern Europe mostly wine (with the exception of Spain). It is a new phenomenon with visible equalisation within the EU-15 in the past 40 years. Approximately 40% of opportunities for drinking in most EU-15 Member States include alcohol consumption with an afternoon/evening meal, although in Southern Europe drinking along with meals is more likely than elsewhere. While everyday drinking of alcoholic beverages is typical of the South rather than North of Europe, non-everyday frequent alcohol consumption (drinking more than once a week but not daily) is more common in Central Europe, in the last few years this form of drinking is also becoming equal within the EU-15.
Figure 88: Registered consumption of pure alcohol per person aged 15+, Slovenia, 1999-2007
litre of pure alcohol per person
15-,
12-
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
years
Source: Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Slovenia
(Un)health of young people
■	While 266 million people drank 20g (women) and 40g (men) of alcohol daily, 58 million adults (15%) consumed alcohol above this level; 20 million (6%) of those people drank over 40g (women) or 60g (men) of alcohol daily. If we consider addiction to alcohol instead of the level of drinking, we can assess that 23 million Europeans (5% of men, 1% of women) are addicted to alcohol in any given year.
■	The number of young people who are being treated because of an alcohol-related illness is increasing.
■	The European School Survey Project on Alcohol and other Drugs of 1st Year Secondary School Students (ESPAD) was also carried out in Slovenia. The comparison of the data on the use of any illicit drug in the period between 1995 and 2007 showed that the use of these drugs increased from 12% to 21% between 1995 and 2003 and decreased to 18% by 2007.
■	The registered use of alcohol in Slovenia fluctuates but still remains high. Irrespective of the high level of alcohol consumption (in 2007 it amounted to 11.0 litres per person over 15), it has decreased by approximately 12.2% in the last twenty years. As in other EU Member States, Slovenia is also experiencing more and more harmful alcohol consumption, intoxication and even excessive and wilful drinking among young people. In Slovenia, alcohol is still one of the key problems in public health, since Slovenia exceeds the European Union average by harm arising from alcohol abuse rather than from its consumption. Registered consumption of pure alcohol in Slovenia is slowly but without doubt decreasing. The most pure alcohol is drunk in the form of wine (almost 50%); the percentage of pure alcohol drunk in the form of spirits is increasing. With a consumption of 8.8 litres per person in 2005 Slovenia was under the average of the EU Member States. However, some statistical data are still worrying, e.g. the age of first alcohol consumption is decreasing and has fallen to the age of 13 for both boys and girls. Fewer and fewer adolescents have never drunk alcoholic beverages. Approximately one quarter of all deaths in young people aged between 15 and 29 is related to alcohol (road accidents, suicides, etc.).
■	The estimates done on the basis of the research study on the drinking behaviour of adults of Slovenia in 1999 showed that most adults in Slovenia at least occasionally drank alcohol. Only 5% have never drunk alcohol in their lives, 21% of people exceeded the "less hazardous limit of drinking", 58% were drunk at least once a year, and 11% were probably already addicted to alcohol. The data from research studies on the consumption of alcohol and other drugs among 15- and 16-year-old students (ESPAD 1995, 1999, 2003) in Slovenia also show the wide circulation of this drug among young people. The age of people when they first come into contact with alcohol is decreasing, the trend of consumption, frequency and quantity of drinking of alcoholic beverages and drinking among young people, however, is increasing.
(Un)health of young people
Figure 89: Frequency of drinking of any alcoholic beverage in the past 12 months by
sex, Slovenia, 2007
%
50-,
esuns
40---
30--._.- — -
20--
10--
on few occasions 2 to 4-times per year	per month
rilo.
rtx
2 to 3-times per week
4 to 6-times per week
every day frequency of drinking
□ TOTAL □ men □ women □ 15-29 years
Source: Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Slovenia, EHIS 2007
■	The research study also showed that 23% of boys and 17% of girls had already tried one of the illicit drugs. 19% of the respondents had already tried cannabis, 7% of them had tried any other drug, except cannabis. 3% of the respondents had already tried ecstasy, cocaine and amphetamines, 1-2% of the respondents had already had experience with LSD, 2% with crack and 1% with heroin.
■	Alcohol consumption in Slovenia is relatively high compared to the other EU Member States; 8.8 litres of pure alcohol per person per year in 2005 (in 2004 it amounted to 11.7 litres). If we consider only people older than 15, alcohol consumption amounted to 10.3 litres per person per year (in 2004 the number was 13.7 litres). The percentage of pure alcohol drunk in the form of wine was 49.7%, in the form of beer 40.1% and in the form of spirits 10.1%. A more accurate extent of unregistered alcohol production is not known but it is estimated at 5 to 7 litres of pure alcohol annually per person older than 15. Alcohol consumption in some European wine-growing countries (such as France and Spain) has decreased significantly in the past 10 to 15 years.
(Un)health of young people Figure 90: Shares of drug-related deaths by age, EU-27 Member States1)2), 2006
% 100
80-
60-
40.
20-
FR GR DK ES EE IT NL HU UK DE FT SE PL SK LT CZ Fl LU SI BE IE BG LV MT AT CY RO
countries
up to 15 years	up to 25 years 35+	65+
1 No data for the age groups to 15 years and 65+ for GR and PT.
2) Data for DK, FR, ES, PL, SI and the UK are for 2005; data for SE and IE are for 2004; data for BE are for 1997. Source: EMCDDA, www.emcdda.europa.eu
Figure 91: Average age of people who died because of drugs, EU-27 Member States1)2), 2006
age (years) 50-
40.
30.
20-J
10-.
RO EE LV CY MT BG AT LT HU CZ LU PT SI IE BE DE IT SK SE UK Fl NL DK PL FR
countries
" No data for GR and ES.
2) Data for RO are for 1997; data for AT are for 2004; data for CZ, CY, DK, HU and the UK are for 2005.
Source: EMCDDA, www.emcdda.europa.eu
(Un)health of young people
■	When we talk about addiction, we usually talk about drugs. People may also be addicted to several other things: e.g. to food, beverages, alcohol, medication (addiction to pills), television, computer games, sports, etc. Of course, the most shocking and unpleasant fact is when young people die because of their addiction to drugs.
■	Most young people often start their addiction to alcohol because they suppress their emotional distress, suppression and complexes because they suddenly become more brave and talkative and find it easier to make contact with people of the same age when they are drunk. If one continues drinking, especially in excessive quantities, the body demands regular and eventually larger doses.
■	"Trend indicators for the use of opioids indicate a worrying development" warns the EMCDDA. The presented report of 2008 indicates that opioids are still at the centre of drug issues in Europe, which reflects in the number of seizures of heroin in most reporting countries between 2003 and 2006, which has increased by over 10%. In this period the quantity of heroin seized in Turkey, which is an important transit country, more than doubled. In general, the seizures of heroine in 2006 in Europe were estimated at 19.4 tonnes (48,200 seizures).
Figure 92: Shares of drug-related deaths by sex, EU-27 Member States, 2006
%
80-
60.
40-
20-
0 II I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
PL MT NL IE Fl DK UK AT BE SI FR SE ES DE SK CZ CY EE LV IT GR BG LT HU PT LU RO
countries
■ men	n women
Source: EMCDDA, www.emcdda.europa.eu
■ Data from the whole of Europe show that the number of new users of heroin is so high that the problem will not significantly reduce in the near future. New demand for medical treatment because of the consumption of heroin as a primary drug increased in approximately 50% of countries that reported data in 2006. Special concern originates from studies that were carried out in certain countries, which show that the number of new injecting users of opioids is increasing. Over 40% of injecting users in Estonia, Lithuania, Austria and Romania were younger than 25.
(Un)health of young people Figure 93: Obese population, EU-27 Member States1, 2003
75.
60--f
45
30
15
UK DK MT GR HU FT Fl CZ EE LT SI SK IE BG CY LV EE SE AT PL NL BE DK RO IT FR
countries
□ overweight □ obesity
1 No data for IE. Source: Eurostat
■	In 2005, the World Health Organisation established that at that time 1.6 billion people were overweight and approximately 400 million people were obese. These data were not collected 50 years ago because at that time there was no problem of obesity. In 1951, the United Kingdom established that the waist measurement of women was on average 70 cm. In 2004, this measurement had already amounted to 86 cm, which is still at the "normal" level according to the provisions regarding healthy waist measurement. Doctors recommend that the waist measurement should not exceed 88 cm in women or 102 cm in men.
■	An unhealthy diet and insufficient physical activity are typical of an unhealthy lifestyle to which smoking and alcohol use contribute. It is established that these factors are among the key factors for the arising and progressing of the most important chronic noncontagious diseases and related complications.
■	Obesity is one of the main challenges in the field of health in the 21st century. 50% of adults and one in five children in the European region of the World Health Organisation are over-nourished. One third of those people are already obese and their number is growing.
■	In the past two decades, overweightness and obesity in children throughout Europe have significantly increased. Over 5 million school-aged children in Europe are already obese and their number increases every year by 300,000. One of the most important factors that influence the development of unhealthy eating habits and obesity is the promotion of unhealthy food among children.
■	Over-nourishment and obesity are not a worrying public health problem among adults only but also among Slovene children and youth.
(Un)health of young people
Figure 94: Opinion of young people about their health status, Slovenia, 2007
%
50-,
esuns
40 30
20 — 10 —
very good	good	fairly good	bad	very bad
health statuses
□ TOTAL □ 15-29 years
Source: Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Slovenia, Health and Healthcare Survey, 2007
■	Young people in Slovenia believe they are healthy. However, a number of factors influence the health of teenagers and young people, including social and environmental factors; thus problems in the maturing population can be very different (from insignificant behavioural problems to very serious illnesses).
■	According to the 2005 Survey on Living Conditions, the most frequent answer to the question on the condition of health was "good" (39%). 15% of the population described their condition of health as "very good", 30% as "fairly good", 13% as "bad" and 3% as "very bad"; 87% of the respondents among young people aged between 16 and 25 estimated their condition of health as "very good" or "good".
■	In the Health and Healthcare Survey carried out in Slovenia in 2007, an even larger percentage of young people (15-29 years) believed that their condition of health was "good" (47%) and "very good" (40.2%). 10.4% of the respondents thought their condition of health was "fairly good", and over 2% thought it was "bad" or "very bad".
■	16.1% of the respondents in the group of young people suffered from back pain or other chronic back injury, 17.6% of them experienced different types of allergies, 12.6% severe headaches or migraine, and 5.6% permanent injuries due to accidents.
■	6.6% of the respondents in the group of young people had an accident in the past year that resulted in injury, 28.1% of them wore glasses or contact lenses.
(Un)health of young people
Figure 95: Average body height of young people and people belonging to other broad age groups, Slovenia, 2007
height (cm) 175-
170-
165
160
155
150.
TOTAL
15-29
30-44
45-64
65+ age groups
Source: Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Slovenia, EHIS 2007
Figure 96: "Nourishment" of young people by the body mass index, Slovenia, 2007
75
60-
45.
30
15
TOTAL
□	underweight	□ overweight
□	normal weight □ obese
15-29 years
sex/ age
Source: Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Slovenia, EHIS 2007
(Un)health of young people
■	Along with other developed countries Slovenia is also facing an increasing proportion of obese population. The percentage of overweight people in Slovenia is not as high as in the USA (estimated at 66%), however, in the past few years, the number of overweight children and adolescents in Slovenia has increased; this is especially due to unhealthy eating habits or the consumption of insufficient amounts of fruit and vegetables compared to sweets and sugary drinks.
■	Various surveys on eating habits in the Republic of Slovenia show that the nutrition of the Slovene population is unhealthy. The number of daily meals and the eating rhythm of an average person are inappropriate, the energy value of an average meal is too high, we consume too much fat in general and too much saturated fat which contributes to the occurrence of cardiovascular disease and colorectal cancer. Our diet lacks fruit, vegetables and fibres, which are important nutritional safety factors protecting against chronic contagious diseases.
■	Today, poor eating habits and insufficient physical activity of young people lead to various diseases of the modern age, which frequently break out not earlier than in the period of adulthood. Already children and young people encounter the problems of regulating an appropriate body weight and diseases of the motive system; however, eating habits acquired in youth are carried over to a later stage in life. According to the survey on eating habits among upper secondary school pupils in Slovenia, only less than one third of them regularly ate breakfast and morning snacks.
■	According to the outcomes of the EHIS 2007 survey, there were a lot of overweight men and women in Slovenia at that time; among young people (15-29 years) an above-average number of people (5.2%) was undernourished; a below-average number of people but still over 20% (22.7%) was overweight and 6.4% of them were obese.
Figure 97: Male and female upper secondary school pupils with appropriate body weight, Slovenia, selected years (1983, 1993, 2003)
95
90
85--
80.
75 —
70.
1983	1993	2003
male pupils
1983	1993	2003
female pupils
□ 15 Ol6 Ol7 O«
Source: Strel et al., 2004
(Un)health of young people Figure 98: Injuries at work per 1000 employees by age and sex, Slovenia, 2008
per 1000 employees
120--
90--
60--
30- —
0_l_l-----------------1_
15-19	20-24	25-34	35-44	45-54	55+
age (years)
■ men n women
Source: Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Slovenia
■	Several hundred thousand young people in Europe suffer every year because of illnesses or injuries at work (young people are especially vulnerable in the work place); some of them even tragically lose their lives.
■	Young people are more prone to vocational diseases which develop slowly (back injury, hearing impairment, etc.). Young people are new at work and new in the work place - they lack experience and do not pay attention to the risks they encounter, they may lack physical and psychological maturity, they are insufficiently qualified or are not acquainted with the duties of their employer and their rights and responsibilities; they may also lack confidence to openly admit their problems.
■	According to Eurostat data, 5,720 people in the European Union die every year because of injuries at work. In addition, the International Labour Organization assesses that an additional 159,500 workers in the EU die every year because of vocational diseases. If we consider both pieces of data, this means that every 3.5 minutes someone in the EU dies because of work related causes. Every 4.5 seconds one male or female worker in the EU is involved in an accident which forces them to stay at home for at least 3 working days.
■	Throughout Europe, the likelihood of injuries at work in 18- and 24-year-olds is at least 50% higher than in more experienced older workers. Young people are also more prone to vocational diseases.
(Un)health of young people
■	On the basis of comparison of data on sick leaves of all employed persons and of employed young people in Slovenia in the 2000-2004 period, it was established that in 2000 6.75 days were lost per employed worker aged up to 19, while in 2004 the number was 7.36 days. Young workers are relatively rarely and briefly absent from work. Throughout the above period, young workers were most frequently absent because of injuries at work and injuries outside of work, since in 2004 these types of injuries represented 44% of all sick leaves among young workers. Among other reasons for the absence of young people from work were, especially in case of women, respiratory diseases, contagious diseases and pregnancies.
■	In 2004, 175 injuries at work were reported; in 2005, 137 injuries at work were reported that resulted in injuries of young people, with a prevailing number of finger and hand injuries (in 2005 their share was 38%). Among the injured young workers, 17.7% were women in 2004 and 14.5% in 2005. In Slovenia, where 25,442 injuries at work were reported in 2007, 85% of them occurred in accidents at work or en route during the working time.
■	The percentage of young people among the deceased was low. In 2005, the percentage was 1.4%, although the percentage of deceased young men (2.32% of all deceased men) was over 4-times higher than the percentage of deceased young women (0.55% of all deceased women). In 2008, the percentage of deceased young people was even lower (1.14%), i.e. 1.80% of all deceased men and 0.48% of all deceased women.
■	Most (79%) young people die because of accidents, suicide or homicide. The percentage of women is low; the highest percentage (20%) of women die in road accidents. The percentage of men in young people who commit suicide is 90%; of young women only 10%. In 2008, 129 young men and 28 young women (15-29 years) died because of these reasons or 78.2% of all deceased young men and 63.6% of all deceased young women.
Tourist travels of young people in Slovenia
Figure 99: Participation of Slovene residents in tourist travels by age, Slovenia, 2006 and 2008
types of tourist travel tourist trip 2006
tourist trip 2008
business trip 2006
business trip 2008
private trip - at least 4 overnight stays - 2006 private trip - at least 4 overnight stays - 2008
15 30 45 60 75 90
I I I I
T
—i-1-1-r
I I all 15+ □ 15-24 years
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, Survey on tourism travels of domestic population
■	According to the outcomes of the Survey on Tourism Travels of Domestic Population for 2008, approximately 1,070,000 or 61% of Slovene nationals aged 15+ (tourists) went on a tourist trip: business trip or longer private trip (at least 4 consecutive overnight stays) or both. 250,000 or 14% of nationals went on a business trip. In 2008, approximately 1,037,000 or 59% of the Slovene population went on a longer private trip. There were 64% of male and 58% of female tourists.
■	The percentage of tourists was the highest among residents aged 15-24 years (84%) and the lowest among residents aged 65 or over (31%).
■	While among young people (15-24 years) from 2006 to 2008 the percentage of those that went on a private trip with at least 4 consecutive overnight stays increased by 5 percentage points, the percentage in other age groups (25-44, 45-64 and 65+) decreased.
■	According to survey data for 2008, 41% of Slovene nationals aged 15+ did not go on any longer private trip. 41% for financial reasons, 20% because of medical problems, 19% because of a lack of leisure time, 15% did not feel the need to leave their home, 3% went on short trips/holiday or day trips. Young residents aged 15-24 years who did not go on any longer private trip mostly stated a lack of leisure time as a reason, residents in the age groups 25-44 and 45-64 did not decide on such trips because of financial reasons, and residents aged 65 or over stated medical reasons.
Risk of poverty in young people
Figure 100: Population by at-risk-of-poverty rate (without income in kind) by age group, Slovenia, selected years (2005, 2006 and 2007)
at-risk-of-poverty rate 15-,
12-
TOTAL
15-24
16-24
25-29
15-29
16-29 age groups
I I 2005 dl 2006 D 2007
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
■ The Eurobarometer survey "The Europeans in 2009" that took place between 16th January and 22nd February 2009, when European public opinion was under the influence of the economic crisis, shows that:
-	since the beginning of the economic crisis an otherwise stable indicator of "life satisfaction" has substantially decreased: nearly one quarter of Europeans were not satisfied with their lives at that time, which is the worse result since spring 1995;
-	the economic crisis is increasingly affecting Europe: personal concerns about the economic situation and unemployment became stronger;
-	the economic crisis extends the gap between Northern and Western Europe and between Southern and Eastern Europe: concerns regarding purchasing power, problems with making ends meet and the risk-of-poverty rate significantly increased mostly in some countries of Southern and Eastern Europe;
-	almost all Europeans negatively evaluated the economic situation: approximately 8 out of 10 respondents evaluated their employment and economic situation as poor. This shows the intensity of the current crisis;
-	Europeans expect that the economic crisis will worsen: over 50% of Europeans thought that the employment and economic situation in their countries will worsen in the next 12 months;
-	the factor of dissatisfaction is the most evident from the outcome that nearly two thirds of Europeans believed that the life of future generations, i.e. today's "young people", will be harder than now.
YOUNG PEOPLE IN SLOVENIA		113
Risk of poverty in young people		
Table 20: Poverty indicators by age and sex, Slovenia, 2007		
Without income in kind	With income in kind	
At-risk-of-poverty threshold (EUR)	5,944 6,108 At-risk-of-poverty threshold for households
consisting of two adults and two children (EUR)	12,482 12,826
At-risk-of-poverty rate (%)	11.5 11.0 At-risk-of-poverty rate by age and sex (%)
TOTAL		11.5	11.0
	men	10.1	9.4
	women	12.9	12.4
0-17 years		11.3	10.8
18-24 years		9.1	8.5
	men	8.2	7.8
	women	10.2	9.4
25-49 years		9.1	8.8
	men	9.2	8.9
	women	9.0	8.7
50-64 years		11.5	10.8
	men	11.3	10.8
	women	11.6	10.9
65 years or over		19.4	18.5
	men	10.8	9.2
	women	24.9	24.4
■	According to some estimates of the Eurobarometer survey for 2007, when 96 million young people aged between 15 and 29 lived in the European Union representing one fifth of the whole population, over 50% of young Europeans aged between 25 and 29 finished upper secondary school, and 29% of them finished tertiary education. However, one fifth of children still had no possibility of achieving basic standards of literacy and numeracy; 6 million young people (i.e. one out of seven young people aged 18-24 years) only finished basic education or not even that. Although in the 2000-2007 period the percentage of those children that give up schooling early (after basic and upper secondary education) in Europe was constantly decreasing, it still reaches 14.8%. Because of their low level of education those young people have fewer possibilities for appropriate employment; without employment they are especially vulnerable since they are literally "condemned" to certain types of "poverty". 19 million children aged between 0 and 17 and 20% of young people aged between 18 and 24 in the EU-27 lived at risk of poverty.
■	On the basis of the Survey on Living Conditions we can establish a relative poverty of the population, which is expressed with the at-risk-of-poverty rate showing the percentage of people with an income lower than 60% of the median of disposable income per equivalent household member (basic at-risk-of-poverty threshold). In 2007, 11.5% of people in Slovenia, of whom 9.1% of young people (people aged between 18 and 24), lived at risk of poverty (excluding income in kind); 8.2% of them were men and 10.2% of them were women of that age.
SOME THOUGHTS INSTEAD OF A CONCLUSION
Young people of the world - according to UN estimates there are more than one billion of them - are an important human resource for development and represent a key source of innovation and positive social changes. Numerous factors prevent the full use of their potential since young people are to a certain extent still insufficiently recognized in most countries of the world.
The period of youth is a period of life which is especially socially and culturally dependent, although the biological factors that influence the maturity of the "organism" also play an important role. In the period of youth people grow up: they develop physically, sexually and spiritually and also reach social maturity. This is the time when we become emotionally mature, acquire life experience in an environment in which we live, make final decisions on our (future) careers and increasingly establish and form our social networks or become more and more responsible members of society. All of the above stated demands a lot of vitality, inventiveness, adaptability, liveliness, constant readiness for new challenges in life and an appropriate willingness for cooperation. To put it simply: the period of youth is a time of fruitful formation of one's personality in order to lead an independent life; a time full of life optimism and impetus that can positively affect the life of society as a whole.
The changes that Europe and Slovenia in the transition period experienced in economic and social fields transformed society that had and still has a significant effect with its culture on the development of young persons, which is also confirmed by a number of expert analyses. The analyses showed that young people of today give more priority to their personal needs than to collective rights; with their lifestyle, which was set out in advance, their personal success is becoming increasingly important, as well as success in their careers since it ensures their well-being. Young people encounter a number of problems and so-called pressures: if they want to compete on the labour market, they have to be successful at school and finish their study programme; if they want to find stable employment, they have to be extremely adaptable and "mobile", etc.; they face unemployment and a lack of money, gainful employment is rare. They frequently enter this harsh and demanding society unprepared, because the families from which they come often lack authority (children often only "negotiate" with their parents about the important issues and this is how they build their attitude in life) which is necessary for appropriate preparation for life. To achieve a better standard and establishment in society they prolong education and dependence on their primary families, which leads to a later social maturity or to "the syndrome of postponing adulthood".
In the near future, the EU will have to face two demographic challenges - population ageing and a decrease in the whole population, especially young people; as a consequence of these processes the "characteristics" of the workforce will also change as the percentage of the working population will significantly decrease compared to the total population.
Since the number of young workers in Europe will decrease, the EU will depend on their younger generation. Various EC analyses are warning that young people of today are often unprepared to take over this responsibility. One out of every six young Europeans finish schooling prematurely and in 2009 4.6 million people aged 15-24 were not employed. If society wants to ensure sustainable progress in the future, young people must be given the possibilities for employment and they have to be increasingly involved in social, economic and political life.
Young people must be given more opportunities to start performing their mission for which they need an appropriate material position. Unemployed young people who have to deal with their survival, access to expensive apartments, insecure employments, less accessible
SOME THOUGHTS INSTEAD OF A CONCLUSION
healthcare, find it more difficult to think about the most appropriate future for everyone. Young people need possibilities and opportunities to be equally involved in decision-making processes and cooperate with their original ideas and knowledge when finding the solutions to challenges which we all face in the current situation. To regulate as adequately as possible all policies that especially affect the lives of young people it is necessary to thoroughly examine the situation in those areas.
The Danish physicist and Nobel Prize winner Niels Bohr once said that "nothing exists until it is measured"; therefore, it is necessary to "listen" to the data that show the achieved values of "measurements" of occurrences and situations in society. It is certain that numbers do not tell everything, but they do tell a lot of things. Even if they only indicate the correctness of the chosen path or problems that people most commonly confront, one has to "listen" to them. This is why it is not surprising that, when reading this publication, you remembered some statistical data that communicate this message, e.g. that:
■	the number of young people in Europe is decreasing, which is especially worrying since only about 10% of all young people in the world live in Europe. Only every eighth EU-27 resident belongs to the group of young people, although the majority (15%) lives in Poland. In 1981, young people in Slovenia represented one quarter of the population, in 2008 less than one fifth; in 2060 they will represent less than one tenth of the population;
■	the percentage of young people (15-24 years) is also decreasing in Slovenia; in 2008 they represented 12.4%, in 2060 their percentage is expected (the EUR0P0P2008 projection) to be between 8.8% and 11%;
■	Slovenia still has one of the lowest fertility rates in the EU-27;
■	young women in Slovenia decide for motherhood at a later period in their lives; the number of mothers who give birth before reaching the age of 25 is decreasing (in 2008, the mean age of a mother giving birth was 30);
■	the number of children born outside marriage in Slovenia is increasing (in 2008 the share exceeded 50%), which also shows that a marriage is no longer the prevailing form of partnership among young people, at least when starting a family;
■	the mean age of bride and groom at first marriage is increasing; the grooms are no longer "young" when they enter into the first marriage, because they have already reached the age of 30;
■	an increasing number of young people in Slovenia continue schooling and learn foreign languages;
■	an increasing number of young people also finish schooling having achieved tertiary education;
■	the cost of education in Slovenia is increasing;
■	the majority of young people in Slovenia receive a scholarship for activities in public administration, defence, social security;
■	demographic trends for Slovenia also predict a future increase in the number and percentage of the older population; at the end of 2008, a person in Slovenia was on average 41.3 years old; in 1995, 12.5% of people in Slovenia were 65 years old or older; on the basis of the baseline variant of projections their percentage should reach 35% by 2060; the increasing ageing of the population is also shown in the values of the ageing index and the age dependency ratios for old and young people;
■	the ageing of the population is also due to the fact that in Europe the expected life expectancy at birth is prolonging: in the 2006/07 period the value of this indicator in Slovenia was 75 years for men and 82.3 for women; according to the EUR0P0P2008 projections the
SOME THOUGHTS INSTEAD OF A CONCLUSION
value of the indicator should by 2060 increase to 83.7 years for men and to 88.8 years for women;
■	young people often have problems with their mental health;
■	the number of overweight young people (17% of young men and 15% of young women) is increasing; on the basis of assessments, the number of underweight people is low but their percentage is also increasing;
■	the percentage of deceased young people is low, but 60% of deaths in young people aged between 15 and 29 are due to external causes;
■	due to the consequences of road accidents young people in Slovenia aged between 15 and 24 are the most endangered age group;
■	young people are especially vulnerable at their workplace;
■	the number of Slovene adolescents who regularly drink alcohol and the number of young people who are receiving medical treatment because of alcohol related illnesses is increasing;
■	the suicide rate among young people in Slovenia is the highest between 14 and 19 years of age;
■	the abuse of alcohol and other drugs among young people is also increasing in Slovenia;
■	smokers among young people in Slovenia are not rare: 34% of men and 24% women aged 15-24 smoke daily;
■	over 10% of young people aged 25-34 smoke marijuana;
■	in 2007, 11.5% of all people and 9.1% of young people (18-24 years of age) in Slovenia lived at risk of poverty.
With data and indicators presented in this publication we have not even mentioned all fields that need to be discussed when talking about young people because there are too many of them and they are too comprehensive for such a presentation. We superficially mentioned the leisure activities of young people although they are an important part of their lives, i.e. with the data on the frequency and extent of participation of young people in tourist travel. Various studies deal with the issue of how much leisure time young people in Slovenia and other countries spend on individual activities, since this field was already discussed in a number of interesting research studies. One of the surveys deals with the frequency of participation of young people in volunteer work since in a social and individual sense this is one of the most important and necessary leisure time activities of all people, especially young people.
As we tried to point to "less healthy forms" of the way of life of young people in the chapter on the health and ill-health of young people with the presented data, we did not want to encourage negativity or overlook everything that was done or achieved in Slovenia for the health of young people but to direct the views of all people (including the people responsible) to the fields that need action.
It is also necessary to devote attention to other issues related to young people in our society (e.g. young people with special needs, forms and ways of family life of young people, etc.) which are an important part of their everyday lives. However, due to spatial restrictions of this publication, these issues could not have been discussed.
Nevertheless, we hope that the readers will be enriched with this information and their thoughts will also be channelled in this direction and in the fields related to young people that need further deliberation and action. Let our thoughts on young people and youth be "the time of joy", as the Irish writer R. B. Sheridan described the youth, despite the "weight" of results.
STATISTICAL SIGNS
no occurrence of event no data
0-14	people	aged	between 0 and 14
0-19	people	aged	between 0 and 19
15+	people	aged	15 or over
15-24	people	aged	between 15 and 24
15-29	people	aged	between 15 and 29
15-64	people	aged	between 15 and 64
18-30	people	aged	between 18 and 30
20-24	people	aged	between 20 and 24
to 25 years	people	aged	to 25 years
50+	people	aged	50 or over
65+	people	aged	65 or over
75+	people	aged	75 or over
80+	people	aged	80 or over
85+	people	aged	85 or over
100+	people	aged	100 or over
ABBREVATIONS AND ACRONYMS
abbreviation/acronym meaning
LFS	Labour Force Survey
AIDS	contagious viral disease that weakens the immune system of the
organism
CATI	Computer-assisted telephone interviewing
CINDI	The Children in Distress Network / National integral
intervention programme for non-contagious diseases WHO EHIS	European Health Interview Survey
EC	European Commission
EMCDDA	European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction
ESPAD	European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs
EU	European Union
EUPHIX	EU Public Health Information & Knowledge System
/ EU information support for the development of public health EUR	euro, monetary unit
EUROPOP2008	the population projections for the EU-27 Member States
and Norway and Switzerland for the 2008-2060 period, convergence scenario (baseline variant) EU-27	the 27 Member States of the European Union
EUROSTAT	Statistical Office of the European Union
EU-SILC	Statistics on Income and Living Conditions
ABBREVATIONS AND ACRONYMS
Eurostudent SI 2007
HBSC IIASA ISCED
NIPH
Levels of education
LFS LPZAP
2002 Census
PTI programme R&D
SKD 2002
SURS
ŠOU
WHO
ZPIZ
UN
ZRSZ
A research study on the economic, social and housing status and international mobility of students in Slovenia in the 2006/2007 academic year. The (European) project in Slovenia was organised and managed by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology of the Republic of Slovenia (MVZT RS); the project was carried out by the company M-KORI Health Behaviour in School-aged Children International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis International Standard Classification of Education - developed by UNESCO
National Institute of Public Health
(levels according to ISCED; levels of achieved education; levels according to Klasius)
more at: http://www.stat.si/klasius/Default.aspx?id=2 Labour Force Survey
the survey of the Employment Service of Slovenia on the employment trend in the past year and forecast for the coming year Census of population, households and housing in the Republic of Slovenia in 2002 secondary vocational-technical programme Research and Development Standard Classification of Activities 2002 Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia Student Organisation of the University of Ljubljana World Health Organisation
Pension and Disability Insurance Institute of the Republic of Slovenia United Nations (United Nations Organization) Employment Service of Slovenia
EXPLANATORY NOTE:
Eurostat calculated all data for the time before 2007 for all EU-27 Member States for the purpose of easier comparison and presentation.
DEFINITIONS OF SOME TERMS USED
Total fertility rate is the average number of children born per woman in childbearing age (15-49). For the calendar year this means the average number of children born per woman in childbearing age (15-49 years) if the age specific fertility rates remain the same as in the observed year. It can be calculated by summing up all the values of age specific fertility rates in the calendar year.
Total public expenditure for education includes all budget expenses for a formal-level education of young people and adults on the levels of state and municipalities. It also includes public expenditure directly for educational institutions and public transfers and payments for households and other private entities.
The percentage of total public expenditure for education in terms of % of GDP includes all public expenditure for a formal-level education of young people and adults, expressed as a percentage of GDP.
Household is a community of people who live together and spend resources for basic needs (apartment, food and other vital consumer goods, etc.) or a person who lives alone. Ageing index is the ratio between the number of people aged 65 or over and the number of children aged 0-14 multiplied by 100. The lower the ageing index the more favourable the age structure of the population. The normal ageing index is between 40 and 50. Education is the highest achieved publicly valid education that a person achieved when finishing the educational programme: - with publicly valid programmes in a regular school; -in a school substituting regular school (ongoing training, distance education, etc.), with courses, examinations or other methods in compliance with the rules regulating the acquirement of publicly valid education. The highest achieved publicly valid education can be proved with a public document (with a certificate, diploma, etc.).
Young age dependency ratio (burden of the working age population with age dependent "young" residents) is the number of the population aged between 0 and 14 compared to the number of the working age population (aged between 15 and 64) in a country or territorial unit. Old age dependency ratio (burden of the working age population with age dependent "old" residents) is the number of the population aged 65 or over compared to the number of the working age population (aged between 15 and 64) in a country or territorial unit. The mother tongue is the language that we learn in early childhood from our environment, family and other primary sources. Usually this is the first language that we learn; if we learn two (bilingualism) or more languages (multilingualism), the mother tongue (from a statistical point of view) is the language that an individual can define as his/her mother tongue. International migration is a spatial movement, whereby the former or the future residence of the migrant is in a foreign country.
Natural growth is the difference between the number of live births and the number of deaths in a certain area in the calendar year.
Natural growth per 1000 population is the ratio between the natural growth in the calendar year and the number of residents in the middle of the same year on a certain area multiplied by 1000. Violent death is a death due to an accident (all types of road accidents, coincidental falls, drowning, accidents with fire or weapons, etc.), suicide or homicide. Child born outside marriage is a live born or stillborn child who was born to a single mother, a mother who lives in a consensual union or a mother who was married but over 300 days had passed since the death of her husband or divorce.
DEFINITIONS OF SOME TERMS USED
Mean age is the weighted arithmetic average of the age of a particular group of the population. When calculating the mean age, the means of 5-year age groups are considered as weights.
Overweight is defined by the body mass index (kg/m2) (BMI). The value between 25 and 29.9 is defined as being overweight, whereas the value of 30 or more is defined as obesity. Life expectancy is the average number of years of life that can be expected by a person aged precisely x years if the mortality rate by age in the time of that person's life will be equal to the values of mortality rate in life tables for the observed year.
Population projections - this expression means the calculation of the possible future size of the population and possible future population structure in a certain area by different marks; it is based on the hypotheses on the future development of fertility rate, mortality rate and migration.
Levels of achieved education. The level of achieved education is understood as the highest achieved level of education with public validity that a person as a rule acquires with the successful finishing of an educational or study programme with public validity. A person can also acquire education with public validity by another means of education, including with a successfully passed master craftsman or foreman/manager exam. A person can prove to have finished education with a public document (certificate, diploma, etc.). The achieved education is classified according to the new Classification System of Education and Training - KLASIUS. More information on the Classification System of Education and Training KLASIUS is available on the following web address: http://www.stat.si/klasius/Default.aspx?id=2. Levels according to ISCED (ISCED stands for International Standard Classification of Education according to which the countries classify or report data on education in an internationally comparable way.) The basic levels of international classification of education according to ISCED are as follows:
0	pre-primary education - Slovenia classifies this level as preschool education for children in the second age period (3-6 years (for the purposes of international reporting)
1	primary education - Slovenia classifies this level as "lower" primary school education (1st-4th class of the 8-year primary school system or 1st-6th class of the 9-year primary school system)
2	lower secondary education - Slovenia classifies this level as "higher" primary school education (5th-8th class of the 8-year primary school system or 7tht-9th class of the 9-year primary school system)
3	higher secondary education - Slovenia classifies to this level secondary school education, except vocational and matura courses and master craftsman or foreman/manager exams which are separately classified as level 4
4	post-secondary, non-tertiary education - Slovenia classifies this level as vocational and matura courses and master craftsman, foreman and manager exams
5	tertiary education - Slovenia classifies this level as professional post-secondary and higher education, except doctoral education/Doctor of Science which is separately classified as level 6
6	education leading to a doctorate of science.
DEFINITIONS OF SOME TERMS USED
A more specific translator of national levels of education, expressed in categories of levels and types of education according to a national classification system of education and training - KLASIUS-SRV, and levels or sub-levels of international classification ISCED is available on the following web address:
http://www.stat.si/klasius/Default.aspx?id=2. Levels according to KLASIUS. Slovenia demonstrates the levels of education in the categories of levels and types of education according to a national classification system of education and training - KLASIUS-SRV. More information on these levels of education KLASIUS-SRV is available on the following web address:
http://www.stat.si/klasius/Default.aspx?id=2. Research and development activity comprises - pursuant to the Research and Development Act (ZRRD-UPB1) - basic and applied research and pre-competitive research, industrial research and the transfer of knowledge. R&D is classified as basic research, applied research and experimental development.
Total age dependency ratio (burden of the working age population with age dependent "young" and "old" residents) is the number of the population aged 0-14 and 65 years or over compared to the number of working age population (aged 15-64) in a country or territorial unit.
Death is permanent cessation of all the vital functions of a person at any time after they were born.
Ageing of the population is defined as an increase in the percentage of the population over a certain age limit (usually the age of 65) along with a simultaneous decrease in the number of population younger than 15 and the prolongation of the life expectancy of the whole population. The demographic age of the population is usually assessed according to the percentage of people older than 65 compared to the whole population. (E.g. if over 10% of the population is aged over 65 we talk about an old population).
Age is the time between the birth of a person and the moment of observation (census, survey) or the observed event (marriage, birth of the first child, employment, death, etc). It is usually measured in years, but also in months, days or even hours. It is classified in two ways: after reaching a certain age and by the date of birth. Classifications are only harmonised at the beginning (1st January) or at the end (31st of December) of each calendar year. When this is not specifically marked, the age is presented by the completed years of age. At-risk-of-poverty rate represents the percentage of people with an income lower than 60% of the median of available income per equivalent member of household (basic at-risk-of-poverty threshold).
Scholarship is a form of monetary assistance for individuals for the purpose of their education, vocational training, research programmes, learning of foreign languages, etc., which is based on academic success, special talents or achievements (in art, sports, etc.), social status or participation in an association or ethnic group.
Participation in education. With the indicator of participation in education we can measure the flow of knowledge capital in formal education. There are different types of indicator presentation: by age group, sex, level of education, etc. - the participation of the population of the chosen age in education: e.g.: the percentage of the population aged 18-24 with finished or unfinished elementary school or without a school education who are not included in education.
DEFINITIONS OF SOME TERMS USED
Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being. Originally, health was defined as an absence of illness or helplessness; however, according to the newest observations and positions of the World Health Organization, health is an integral and dynamic system capable of adjusting to all influences of the environment and which enables the individual or a community to perform all biological, social and vocational functions and prevent diseases, helplessness and premature death.
Live births per 1000 population is the ratio between the number of live born children in a calendar year and the number of residents in the middle of the same year multiplied by 1000.
Live born child is every child that, as soon as it is born, despite the duration of pregnancy, shows vital signs (breathing, heartbeat, muscle twitch) although only for a short period of time.
SOURCES AND LITERATURE
1.	Attitudes of Europeans towards Tobacco, Special Eurobarometer 239 / Wave 64.1 - 64.3, http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_239_en.pdf / 2nd October 2009.
2.	White Paper of the European Commission on Youth (A new impetus for European youth), 2001, Commission of the European Communities, 60 p., http://www.ursm.gov.si/si/zakonodaja_in_dokumenti/ 2nd October 2009.
3.	Brake, M.,1984, The Sociology of Youth Cultures and Youth Subcultures. Ljubljana: Krt.
4.	Crnak-Meglič, A., 2005, Children and Youth in the Transitional Society - Analysis of the Situation in Slovenia. Maribor: Aristej Publishing House, Collection Juventa. 220 p.
5.	Demography, Population Ageing in Europe; Data: Demography. Europe: Population by age groups, 1950-2050 .... European Rural Development (ERD) Project. IIASA - International institute for Applied Systems Analyses; http://www.iiasa.ac.at / 1st October 2009.
6.	Discrimination in the European Union: Perceptions, Experiences and Attitudes, Special Eurobarometer 296 / Wave 69.1,
http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_296_en.pdf / 2nd October 2009
7.	Divjak T., Šporar P., Comparative Legal Analysis of Youth Legislation in Europe (Primerjalno pravna analiza mladinske zakonodaje v Evropi), 2005,
The Legal Information Centre for non-governmental organisations - PIC, Ljubljana, p. 37. http://www.ursm.gov.si/si/zakonodaja_in_dokumenti/ 2nd October 2009.
8.	EU Public Health Information & Knowledge System, http://www.euphix.org/object_document/o4581n27010.html / 2nd October 2009.
9.	Europeans and Languages, Eurobarometer 237 / Wave 63.4, http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_237.en.pdf / 2nd October 2009.
10.	Eurostat,
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/population/data/database / 13th May 2009.
11.	European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, http://osha.europa.eu/fop/slovenia/sl/statistics / 2nd October 2009.
12.	European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs, http://www.espad.org/espad-reports / 2nd October 2009.
13.	European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/html.cfm/index190EN.html / 2nd October 2009.
14.	Flying Over Or Falling Through The Cracks? Young People in the Risk Society. 2002, Collection. Editors: Blakna Tivadar, Polona Mrvar. Office of Youth, Ministry of Education and Sport, Ljubljana.
1 5. Geržina, S., Lobnikar, B., Mencin Ceplak, M., Miheljak, V., Nastran Ule, M., Rener, T., Švab, A., Tivadar, B., Vaupotič, M., 1996, Youth in the Nineties: Analysis of the Situation in Slovenia. Editor: Mirjana Nastran Ule, Science and journalism centre (Znanstveno in publicistično središče), Ljubljana.
16.	Gril, A., 2007, Social Concepts of Organised Youth (Družbene predstave organizirane mladine). Educational Research Institute, Ljubljana, p. 208.
17.	National Institute of Public Health, European Health Interview Survey, www.ivz.si/ 2nd October 2009.
18.	International Labour Organisation, http://www.ilo.org/global/What_we_do/Statistics/lang-en/index.htm / 2nd October 2009.
19.	Nastran Ule, M., Rener, T., Miheljak, V., Kurdija, S., Mencin Ceplak, M., 1996, Alarm in Front of Students (Preplah pred študentsko mladino). Editor: Blanka Tivadar. Office of Youth, Ministry of Education and Sport, Ljubljana, The National Education Institute.
20.	Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), http://www.oecd.org/statsportal/0,3352,en_2825_293564_1_1_1_1_1,00.html / 2nd October 2009.
21.	Policies and Programmes Involving Youth, A/RES/54/120; http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N00/246/20/PDF/N0024620.pdf?OpenElement /2nd October 2009.
VIRI IN LITERATURA
22.	Report on the Implementation of the Eurostudent 2005 Research, http://eustudent.mvzt.gov.si/ 2nd October 2009.
23.	SORS, Eurostat Population Projections for Slovenia, 2008-2060, EUROPOP2008, convergence scenario, http://www.stat.si/novica_prikazi.aspx?id=1683 / 13th June 2008.
24.	Statistical Office of the RS, Census 2002, http://www.stat.si/popis2002/si/ 2nd October 2009.
25.	SORS, database SI-STAT; http://www.stat.si/pxweb/Database/ Dem_soc/Dem_soc.asp / 13th May 2009.
26.	Survey on Tobacco, Analytical Report, Flash Eurobarometer 253, http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/flash/fl_253_en.pdf / 2nd October 2009.
27.	World Health Organization, http://www.who.int/research/en/ 2nd October 2009.
28.	ŠOU Ljubljana, Project on Housing Issues of Young People. Ljubljana, 2004. http://www.sou-lj.si/predsedstvo/stanovanjska_problematika1.html / 2nd October 2009.
29.	The Europeans in 2009, Report, Special Eurobarometer 308 / Wave 71.1, http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_308_en.pdf / 2nd October 2009.
30.	Ule, M., et al., 1996, Youth in the Nineties. Ljubljana, ZPS.
31.	Ule, M., et al., 1999, Leisure Time of Young People in Ljubljana. Analysis of Risk Marginal Groups (Analiza rizičnih marginalnih skupin), Ljubljana, Social Psychology Centre, final research report.
32.	Ule, M., Miheljak, V., 1995, The Future (Transition) of Youth. Ljubljana, DZS.
33.	Ule, M., Rener, T., Mencin-Ceplak, M., Tivadar, B., 2000, Social Vulnerability of Young People (Socialna ranljivost mladih). Ljubljana, Ministry of Education and Sport.
34.	Ule, M., Rener, T., Miheljak, V., Mencin Ceplak, M., Tivadar, B., Kuhar, M., Kamin, T., Štebe, J., 2002, Youth 2000: Slovene Youth on the Threshold of the Third Millennium. Office of Youth, Ministry of Education and Sport, Ljubljana.
35.	Ule, M., Rener, T., Mencin Ceplak, M., Tivadar, B., 2000, Social Vulnerability of Young People. Editor: M. Ule. Office of Youth, Ministry of Education and Sport, Ljubljana,
36.	Ule, M., Rener, T., Švab, A., Mencin Ceplak, M., Gerzina, S., Miheljak, V., Tivadar, B., Lobnikar, B., Vaupotič, M., 1998, Youth in Slovenia: New Perspectives from the Nineties. Editors: Mirjana Ule, Tanja Rener. Office of Youth, Ministry of Education and Sport, Ljubljana.
37.	Ule, M., Miheljak, V., 1994, The Future (Transition) of Youth. DZS, Ljubljana, Ministry of Education and Sport, Ljubljana, Office of Youth, Ljubljana.
38.	Office of Youth, http://www.ursm.gov.si/ 2nd October 2009.
39.	Office of Youth, 2005, Strategy of the Office of Youth in the Field of Youth Policy until 2010, Ljubljana, p. 26.
40.	Vertot, N., 2009, Intercultural Dialogue in Slovenia. Ljubljana, Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, p. 86.
41.	Vertot, N., 2009, Slovenia's Population Today and Tomorrow, 2008-2060: EUROPOP2008 Population Projections for Slovenia. Ljubljana, Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, p. 120.
42.	Young Europeans, Survey among Young People Aged between 15-30 in the European Union, Summary, Flash Eurobarometer 202,
http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/flash/fl_202_sum_en.pdf/ 2nd October 2009.
43.	Employment Service of Slovenia, http://www.ess.gov.si/slo / 2nd October 2009.
LIST OF COUNTRIES: NAMES AND ABBREVIATIONS
Country name	Abbr.	Country name	Abbr.
EU-27, TOTAL	EU-27	Italy	IT
Austria	AT	Latvia	LV
Belgium	BE	Lithuania	LT
Bulgaria	BG	Luxemburg	LU
Cyprus	CY	Malta	MT
Czech Republic	CZ	Netherlands	NL
Denmark	DK	Poland	PL
Estonia	EE	Portugal	PT
Finland	FI	Romania	RO
France	FR	Slovakia	SK
Germany	DE	Slovenia	SI
Greece	GR	Spain	ES
Hungary	HU	Sweden	SE
Ireland	IE	United Kingdom	UK
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