On the occasion of 2022 being the European Year of Youth, Eurostat looks at the proportion of young people at regional level in the EU. On 1 January 2020, across the EU, one out of 6 people was aged between 15 and 29 years old, representing 73.6 million people of the total EU population (447.3 million). 37.8 million people (51% of young people in the EU) were young men and 35.8 million (49%) were young women.
Source dataset: demo_r_pjangroup
Among the EU Member States, the Île-de-France region had the highest number of young people between 15 and 29 years old in 2020 (2.4 million). Following that were the regions of Lombardy (1.5 million), Andalusia (1.4 million), Catalonia and Rhône-Alpes (both 1.2 million), and Madrid and Campania (both 1 million).
However, relative to population size, the highest shares of 15 to 29 year-olds in the EU were found in French Guiana and Mayotte (both in France) as well as Groningen (in the Netherlands), where 23% of the population were young people. These were closely followed by Cyprus (single region at this level of detail), the Capital region of Denmark and the Spanish autonomous region of Melilla (each 21%).
By contrast, the lowest shares of young people in the EU were found in Chemnitz and Brandenburg in Germany (both 11%), Thuringia, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt (all in Germany), and Asturias in Spain (all 12%).
The highest shares of young men were found in the North Aegean region in Greece (24% of the population), French Guiana and Groningen (both 23%).
Young women were highest in proportion in Mayotte (25%), French Guiana (23%) and Groningen (22%).
For more information:
- In this article, the regional data are presented at NUTS 2 level (2016). The names of the regions are in English.
- Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, North Macedonia: single regions at this level of detail.
- EU dashboard showing youth indicators
- Eurostat overview on population and demography
- Eurostat database on population and demography
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