Gap between young and old widening

Ljubljana – Slovenia’s society is ageing quite significantly, shows data released by the Statistics Office for International Youth Day, observed on Friday. The number of those between the ages of 15 and 29 dropped by 15% over the past decade, while the number of those aged 65 or more increased by 29%.

Data released ahead of the International Youth Day, which is dedicated to intergenerational solidarity, also shows that a large share of Slovenian youth lives with their parents, while an increasing number of the elderly live alone.

At the start of 2022, 308,000 residents of Slovenia were aged between 15 and 29, while 445,000 people were 65 years old or older. Compared to 2012, the number of former dropped by 15% and the number of the latter increased by 29%.

In 2012, the young outnumbered the old by 20,000, while a decade later the old outnumbered by young by 136,000, statistics show.

Education improved among both groups in the past decade. Half of the young, many of whom are still gaining education, has a secondary education, 31% primary education and 19% has higher education.

Among the old generation, 48% have a secondary education, 38% have primary education and 14% have higher education.

On the other hand, there is a much wider gap when it comes to digital skills. 60% of those aged between 15 and 24 had very good or digital digital skills, while this was the case for less than 20% of those between 65 and 74.

In 2021, all youths used the internet, with 98% using it every day or nearly every day, while 69% of the old used the internet, of them 48% every day or nearly every day.

Moreover, the use of smartphones is on the rise among seniors. Of those who used a mobile phone, 58% used a smartphone. Up until 2021, more than a half were using only feature phones. Meanwhile, 69% of youths who have a phone are using a smartphone.

Poverty data show a slightly lower rate than average among the youth, while the poverty rate is almost double the average among elderly women.

Nearly 12% of Slovenian residents lived under the poverty threshold last year. The rate was at 9.9% among the young and at 17.1% among the elderly.

While the rate was slightly higher among young men than women, the gap was drastically wider and reversed among the elderly: for men poverty rate was at 12.7%, while for women it was as high as 20.6%.

Data for last year also show that Slovenian youths are rather late in moving from home, leaving at an average age of 29.6 years: men at 30.9 years and women at 28.1 years. The EU average was at 26.5 years, with lowest ages recorded in Sweden, Finland and Denmark.

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