Paul from Paris

How do French people generally view young people, age 15 to 25?

For many in France, there is no better way to answer that question than a survey. And a French organization, AFEV, has done just that, with help from a pollster and interpretation by a panel of experts; The survey results show:

• About half of those surveyed have a negative perception of youth (persons age 15-25). Last year, the percentage with negative views was 51%; this year, it’s 49%.
• A health majority –59%– think that they do not have the same views as youth.
• Most of those surveyed –51%– feel a generational difference with youth.
• Nearly four in ten –39%– state that they do not not understand youth well.

France is among the most vibrant countries in Europe, demographically. French society is baby-friendly. But here’s the paradox: when the babies grow to become adolescents, then young adults, social attitudes change dramatically. I didn’t need a survey to tell me that French society doesn’t particularly value its younger citizens, or treat them particularly well.

In French political or social discourse, les jeunes (youth, young people), are seen and discussed as a separate tribe or ethnicity. They are not valued: for all the merit of AFEV’s poll, it’s telling that the organization chose not to ask youth about their attitudes towards society at large.

From my vantage point in Paris, I see a chasm between the French and Anglo-American worlds on two points:

• Higher education. Most French people I talk with refuse to believe the cost of a private college education in the United States, or the concept of needs-blind admissions. Likewise, discussions with Americans run aground when I mention grueling examinations young people go through in France in order to have a chance –not a certainty, a chance– to land a spot at a school with selective admissions, but comparatively low tuition. In the same way, many French people have trouble imagining the material comfort to which many American students are accustomed; just as many Americans cannot imagine the poverty conditions in which many French students live.
• Employment. A recent college graduate in the United States can, without stigma, work in a bookstore or a bar; teach English in Taiwan; or undertake some other pursuit unrelated to what she will do five years hence. By comparison, French people tend to regard first jobs (following higher education) with considerable seriousness and as a strong predictor of occupational future. Some of the difference probably has to do with how labor markets are structured and lower search (for candidates) or error for employer) costs in the Anglo-American world. But to generalize to an extreme: French people at 25 act as though they were on probation, whereas Americans at 25 act as though tomorrow held an infinity of options from which to choose.

Another real difference might be an attitude towards private initiative and government assistance: whereas the AFEV survey points to greater state aid to assist youth, I would expect most Anglo-Americans to express offense if youth were broadly described as needing government assistance.

When do young people move out of the parental home to establish an independent household?

The answer to this questions turns out to vary considerably throughout Europe, according to a study by Eurostat, the European statistical office.

The Eurostat study considered “youth”, defined as persons aged 15 to 29; there are 96 million such people in the EU.

Looking at this population, the study didn’t provide an average age at which youth set up an independent household. This having been said, the study did offer insights that are more intriguing than a raw number:

• Women move out of the parental home at a younger age then men, in all European countries;
• The median age at which women set up an independent household varies among European countries;
• The amplitude of the range at which women set up an independent household also varies among European countries; and
• The extent to which men and women behave differently –in other words, the relative difference of the age at which men and women set up an independent household– likewise varies among European countries.

Eurostat, Youth in Europe (2009), Figure 2-2

Apart from the question of establishing an independent household, the Eurostat study considered other demographic and economic issues. The one that caught my eye was the age at which women bear their first child. Throughout the EU, this age increased during the period 1995-2005, in some countries by as much as three years.

If you survey women born in 1965, who are today nearing the end of their childbearing years, you will find that that majority are mothers; however:

• in France, about 1 woman in 10 has never had a child;
• in Germany, nearly 3 women in 10 have never had a child.

I think that the difference between these European neighbors has more to do with personal choices than with public policies. (Of course, some women would like to have children but cannot because of medical conditions or unfulfilled social criteria, such as supportive partner or approving family.) The difference, however, is real, and will have repercussions for the next century.