The federal government’s Youth Strategy

The coalition agreement for the 19th legislative period provided for the development of a national Youth Strategy (“gemeinsame Jugendstrategie der Bundesregierung”). With this strategy, the federal government across all ministries acknowledges its shared responsibility for the young generation and pledges its commitment to creating the conditions that all young people and young adults need to be able to grow up safely and healthily. The Youth Strategy is based on nine youth-relevant fields of action, covering the broad spectrum of interests and concerns of young people. Youth researchers and young people themselves have repeatedly rated these fields – including that of "health" – as being of particular relevance to young people. The strategy describes young people’s perspectives of the current situation in each of these areas, and identifies required action and lists concrete measures. All ministries are involved in this process. This is the first ever youth policy project to involve all federal ministries in the Federal Republic of Germany.

One of the key aims of the government's Youth Strategy is the direct, visible and effective participation of young people in "their" Youth Strategy. To guarantee the broadest possible, most informed participation, various recurring formats encourage young people to act as experts of their own interests. An inter-ministerial task force ensures that findings are included in the development and implementation of the Youth Strategy. The individual formats differ in terms of size, target group and scope and include youth audits, the Youth Policy Days (JugendPolitikTage) and an online participation tool. Additionally, a National Action Plan (NAP) for child and youth participation was developed to structurally improve young people's involvement in decision-making. In a nationwide dialogue process (2022–2024), around 1,700 young people and professionals drew up concrete recommendations, which were published in 2025 and presented to the Federal Cabinet.

Cross-sectoral collaboration is based on the principles of involving young people, making young people visible and sharing responsibility It is about taking young people seriously and giving them opportunities to voice their opinions. Young people should be made visible so that all ministries are aware of their interests and concerns.  

The Youth Strategy has formulated the following assumptions and goals relating to "Health": "Most 12 to 27-year-olds in Germany enjoy good health during their youth. However, certain groups are more prone to engaging in risk behaviours. Key health-related priorities for young people include sufficient physical activity, a healthy diet, addiction prevention, accident prevention, health literacy, preventing sexualised violence and reducing psychological stress. 

As part of the federal government's Youth Strategy (Jugendstrategie) two examples of measures are described below.

National Action Plan IN FORM – Germany's initiative to promote healthy diets and physical activity, prevent poor dietary habits, lack of physical activity, overweight | Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Regional Identity (Bundesministerium für Landwirtschaft, Ernährung und Heimat, BMLEH) and Federal Ministry of Health (Bundesministerium für Gesundheit, BMG).

As part of the Action Plan, BMLEH and BMG campaign to improve exercise and eating habits, for example with measures to intensify nutrition education and improve nutrition expertise in all age groups, especially children and young people. Specific examples include developing the DGE quality standard for school meals, setting up school networks with the Länder to help school authorities and schools offer balanced meals, developing nutrition education materials and promoting pilot projects to help educators teach nutrition. The general public is also made aware of the importance of physical activity. For young people, the school environment is also important for physical activity promotion. Formally, this is covered by physical education as a school discipline, but additional offers are also needed during breaks and in classes. The National Recommendations for Physical Activity and Physical Activity Promotion (Nationale Empfehlungen für Bewegung und Bewegungsförderung) provide stakeholders with guidelines and demonstrate ways to encourage more physical exercise in a range of settings.

Expert dialogue on strengthening prevention and health promotion among adolescents | Federal Ministry of Health (Bundesministerium für Gesundheit, BMG), Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Regional Identity (Bundesministerium für Landwirtschaft, Ernährung und Heimat, BMLEH), Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales, BMAS), Federal Ministry of Research; Technology and Space (Bundesministerium für Forschung, Technologie und Raumfahrt, BMFTR), Federal Ministry for Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (Bundesministerium für Bildung, Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend, BMBFSFJ)

The dialogue promotes collaboration across all ages, target groups and subjects between stakeholders from science, industry and politics who are committed to improving young people’s health. One important milestone of the collaboration is the “Guide to a common understanding of health promotion and prevention among children and adolescents in Germany" (Wegeweiser zum gemeinsamen Verständnis von Gesundheitsförderung und Prävention bei Kindern und Jugendlichen in Deutschland), which was jointly adopted by the participating organisations and representatives of the participating bodies. The guide defines the cornerstones and tasks of the expert dialogue within the framework of the process.

No further information on top-level programmes, projects and initiatives etc. to make health services and facilities more youth friendly is available.