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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

Spain is committed to basing youth policy on evidence, anchored in Axis 9 of the Youth Strategy 2030 (“Knowledge management on youth reality and youth services”). Its objectives include:

• Strengthening the Spanish Youth Observatory (Observatorio de la Juventud en España), as a national centre for youth data and analysis.
• Establishing a state system of youth indicators.
• Improving monitoring and knowledge transfer between research, policy, and practice.
• Promoting youth research and incorporating the youth perspective across public research fields.
• Enhancing international cooperation on youth knowledge.

Cooperation between policy-making and research

The Spanish Youth Institute (INJUVE), through the Youth Observatory (Observatorio de la Juventud), is the central body for youth knowledge and research. Its role is to analyse youth realities and provide evidence for the design, monitoring, and evaluation of policies.

The main instruments include:

• Youth in Spain Report (Informe Juventud en España) – a comprehensive report published every four years, the most recent bring the 2024 report.
• Quarterly Youth Opinion Polls – surveys of young people’s attitudes and situations.
• Youth Studies Journal (Revista de Estudios de Juventud) – quarterly monographs on youth issues, published since 1979.
• Thematic studies on demography, values, employment, housing, health, lifestyles, digitalisation, etc.

INJUVE collaborates with universities, research institutes, and civil society organisations, ensuring regular dialogue between research and policy. It also co-organises the Young Researchers Award (Certamen de Jóvenes Investigadores), with the Ministry of Education, encouraging research by students aged 15–20 in collaboration with universities and research bodies such as the CSIC.

The Spanish Youth Council (CJE) contributes independent evidence through its Emancipation Observatory (Observatorio de Emancipación), which regularly publishes reports on the socio-economic conditions of young people.

National Statistics and available data sources

National youth statistics

Spain does not maintain a single statistical system exclusively dedicated to youth, but youth-specific data are collected regularly through the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadística, INE) and other public bodies. Key surveys and registers include:

• Demography:  
  • Population Figures and Demographic Censuses (Cifras de Población y Censo Demográfico), every 10 years at national level.
  • Municipal Register (Padrón municipal), annual at national level.
  • Active Population Survey (Encuesta de población activa), quarterly at national level.
  • Demographic phenomena, annual at national level.
  • Population projections.
• Education and training:
  • Education Module in the Labour Force Survey, annual or periodic at national level.
  • Education Statistics from the Ministry of Education, annual at national level.
  • Survey on Adult Population Involvement in Learning Activities, every five years at national level.
• Employment and economy:
  • Labour Force Survey, quarterly at national level.
  • Household budget survey, annual at national level.
  • Living conditions survey, annual at national level.
  • State Employment Service (Servicio Público de Empleo Estatal) of the Ministry of Labour and Social Economy publishes labour market flows, monthly record at national level.
• Health, lifestyle and social / behavioural data
  • National Health Survey, every 4 years at national level.
  • Death statistics, annual at national level.
  • Hospital Morbidity Survey, annual at national level.
  • National Registry of HIV (Registro Nacional de casos de VIH/SIDA) Ministry of Health annual at national level.
  • National Drugs Plan Surveys (Plan Nacional sobre Drogas), biennial at national level:
    • Drug and Alcohol use Survey (Encuesta sobre alcohol y otras drogas en España, EDADES)
    • Drug Use in Secondary Education (Encuesta sobre uso de drogas en Enseñanzas Secundarias en España, ESTUDES)
  • Traffic accident yearbook (Anuario de accidentes de la Dirección General de Tráfico), annual at national level.
  • ICT Household Survey (Encuesta sobre Equipamiento y Uso de Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación (TIC) en los Hogares), which includes data on young people´s digital habits, annual at national level.
  • Statistics on voluntary pregnancy interruption
• Other social data/ cross-sectoral data:
  • Gender equality indicators (Indicadores de Igualdad de Género), annual data on immigration/emigration flows by age group at national level.
  • Survey on Disability, Personal Autonomy and Dependency Situations (EDAD) (Encuesta de Discapacidad, Autonomía personal y situaciones de Dependencia) provides disaggregated data, including on young people with disabilities. Carried out periodically at national level by INE (2008, 2023), but not on a fixed cycle.

INE regional data sets (Estadísticas Territoriales) provide youth indicators broken down by Autonomous Community.

Specific youth indicators

Youth employment indicators - youth unemployment rate, NEET rate (young people not in employment, education, or training) and temporary employment rate - are central to monitoring the Youth Guarantee+ 2021–2027.

Youth emancipation indicators are systematically tracked by the Spanish Youth Council’s Emancipation Observatory, focusing on housing costs, income, and age of leaving home.

The Spanish Youth Observatory within INJUVE is developing a broader set of indicators for monitoring EJ2030, combining demographic, education, labour, health, and participation data. 

National youth reports

• The Youth in Spain Report (Informe Juventud en España) is INJUVE’s flagship publication, produced every four years. It combines survey data, official statistics, and thematic studies to provide a comprehensive analysis of youth realities. The most recent edition was published in 2024.
• The Spanish Youth Council (CJE) publishes the Emancipation Observatory (Observatorio de Emancipación), issued biannually, which provides rigorous and up-to-date analysis of the socio-economic situation of young people, with a special focus on housing and labour conditions.
• INJUVE also publishes the Youth Studies Journal (Revista de Estudios de Juventud), a thematic quarterly monograph on youth issues (available in open access online).

Other data and analysis

• INJUVE commissions thematic studies and reports (e.g. on values, digitalisation, participation, gender equality, and leisure).
• Regular Youth Opinion Polls (Barómetros de opinión) are conducted by INJUVE to gather rapid insights into youth attitudes and living conditions.
• Spain also contributes to international youth data collection (e.g. EU Youth Report indicators, Eurostat’s EU-LFS modules, OECD youth indicators).

Budgetary Allocations supporting research in the youth field

Axis 8 of the EJ2030 22-24 Action Plan 2022-2024 dedicated approximately 750,000.00€ to youth research and knowledge management. This included funding for:

• Axis 9.4.1: Regular studies and reports on youth rights, needs, and expectations (~€328,000).
• Axis 9.9.1: International cooperation projects in the youth knowledge field (~€120,000).