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1. Political Commitment to Evidence-Based Youth Policy

2. Cooperation between policy-making and research

3. National Statistics and available data sources

4. Budgetary Allocations supporting research in the youth field

Political Commitment to Evidence-Based Youth Policy

Although there is no direct equivalent in French of the concept of “evidence-based youth policy”, the experimentation and scientific evaluation of public policies, as well as evidence-based approaches relying on empirical and robust data, have existed and developed in France since the 1980s, particularly in the field of youth policy.

Cooperation between policy-making and research

INJEP – National Institute for Youth and Non-formal Education

The design and monitoring of youth policies rely on a wide range of quantitative and qualitative data produced by public administrations, research and study organisations, as well as national statistical services. Among these actors is the National Institute for Youth and Popular Education (Institut national de la jeunesse et de l’éducation populaire – INJEP), attached to the Directorate for Youth, Popular Education and Associative Life (Direction de la jeunesse, de l’éducation populaire et de la vie associative – DJEPVA).

Established in 1953, INJEP is the national observatory for youth, popular education, associative life and sport. It also serves as a resource and expertise centre for professionals and decision-makers in these fields.

The Institute plays a key role in developing knowledge and analysing youth policies, acting as a resource and expertise centre for stakeholders in youth, popular education and associative life, as well as for parliamentary assemblies and civil society representative bodies. INJEP’s role is “to observe and analyse the situation of young people and the policies targeting them at all territorial levels, from the local to the European level”.

At the request of the Prime Minister, INJEP conducts studies and evaluation work related to interministerial youth policy. It also develops, “at the request of the minister responsible for youth, either independently or in partnership with any public or private legal entity, specific observation or expertise activities relating to public actions in favour of young people”.

Since 1 January 2016, the National Institute for Youth and Popular Education (Institut national de la jeunesse et de l’éducation populaire – INJEP) has operated as a national public service body with specific competence (service à compétence nationale – SCN) attached to the Director of DJEPVA. Its missions and operating arrangements are established by Decree No. 2015-1771 of 24 December 2015 establishing a national public service body with specific competence named “National Institute for Youth and Popular Education”.

In addition, INJEP is responsible for managing the Youth Experimentation Fund (Fonds d’Expérimentation pour la Jeunesse – FEJ), a fund that finances experimental projects in the field of youth (see further details below).

Other ministerial evaluation and statistical services may also be mentioned (non-exhaustive list):

• Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty (Ministère de l’Économie, des Finances et de la Souveraineté industrielle et numérique): Department for Foreign Trade Statistics and Studies (Département des statistiques et des études du commerce extérieur – DSECE);
• Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty: Public Statistics Unit (Pôle statistique publique);
• Ministry of National Education and Ministry of Higher Education and Research (Ministère de l’Éducation nationale et Ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche): Directorate for Evaluation, Foresight and Performance (Direction de l’évaluation, de la prospective et de la performance – DEPP);
• Ministry of Higher Education and Research: Sub-directorate for Information Systems and Statistical Studies (Sous-direction des systèmes d’information et des études statistiques – SIES);
• Ministry of Justice (Ministère de la Justice): Sub-directorate for Statistics and Studies (Sous-direction de la statistique et des études – SDSÉ);
• Ministry of Labour, Health, Solidarity and Families (Ministère du Travail, de la Santé, des Solidarités et des Familles): Directorate for Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (Direction de la recherche, des études, de l’évaluation et des statistiques – DREES);
• Ministry of Labour, Health, Solidarity and Families: Directorate for Research, Studies and Statistics Coordination (Direction de l’animation de la recherche, des études et des statistiques – DARES).

FEJ – Youth Experimentation Fund

Established by Law No. 2008-1249 of 1 December 2008, the Youth Experimentation Fund (Fonds d’Expérimentation pour la Jeunesse – FEJ) supports the development and evaluation of innovative initiatives targeting young people. The principle of experimentation consists in testing a new programme or action within a defined framework in order to assess its results, identify the conditions required for its success, and evaluate its relevance before any potential wider deployment.

The FEJ operates mainly through national calls for projects open to associations, public organisations and private stakeholders proposing innovative actions or seeking to improve the effectiveness of existing schemes. Selected projects are systematically subject to an evaluation carried out by an external and independent organisation (such as a university research laboratory, research centre or specialised consultancy). These evaluations may be fully funded by the FEJ.

The themes addressed by the FEJ are diverse and include early school leaving, professional integration, access to housing, health, national and international mobility, civic engagement and the fight against discrimination. A significant proportion of experiments concern initiatives aimed at promoting young people’s engagement and integration.

The FEJ publishes activity reports presenting the supported experiments, their results and the lessons that can be used by public authorities. In 2025, it notably launched a call for projects dedicated to the “promotion of youth-led action for ecological transition during extracurricular and out-of-school activities”.

National Statistics and available data sources

The main institutions responsible for implementing and evaluating youth policies regularly produce statistical data, surveys and studies aimed at providing a better understanding of the situation of young people in France.

For example, since 2016, the Directorate for Youth, Popular Education and Associative Life (Direction de la jeunesse, de l’éducation populaire et de la vie associative – DJEPVA) and the National Institute for Youth and Popular Education (Institut national de la jeunesse et de l’éducation populaire – INJEP), in partnership with the Research Centre for the Study and Monitoring of Living Conditions (Centre de Recherche pour l’Étude et l’Observation des Conditions de Vie – CRÉDOC), have conducted an annual survey of more than 4,000 young people aged 18 to 30 living in France. This survey, known as the Youth Barometer (Baromètre Jeunesse), provides qualitative insights into the situation and experiences of young people.

Finally, other public institutions also produce and disseminate data on youth, including the National Family Allowances Fund (Caisse Nationale d’Allocations Familiales – CNAF), the Statistics Unit of the National Observatory of Urban Policy (Bureau des statistiques de l’Observatoire national de la politique de la ville – ONPV), and the Centre for Studies and Research on Qualifications (Centre d’études et de recherches sur les qualifications – CEREQ), which regularly collaborates with INJEP.

Budgetary Allocations supporting research in the youth field

It is difficult to assess the total amount of funding allocated to youth research, as the research budget also finances, among other areas, higher education institutions, the National Centre for Scientific Research (Centre national de la recherche scientifique – CNRS), the National Research Agency (Agence nationale de la recherche – ANR) and the Future Investment Programmes (Programmes d’investissements d’avenir – PIA), whose research topics do not necessarily focus on young people.

According to the 2025 financial programme “Youth and Voluntary organisations” (Programme 163 « Jeunesse et vie associative ») of the 2025 Finance Act, the resources allocated to INJEP and the Youth Experimentation Fund (Fonds d’Expérimentation pour la Jeunesse – FEJ) for the production of data and studies amount to €956,255, a budget that has remained stable since 2018.