10.06.2022
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FES MENA Youth Study
The Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) views young women and men as a decisive factor for democratic development in the region and is keen to strengthen their potential to initiate change in the world of politics and across society. Based on the results on a long-term survey, the FES seeks to foster engagement with young people’s situation in the MENA region.
FES MENA Youth Study 2021
In 2021, the FES launched the second large-scale representative survey in 12 MENA countries: Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan, Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Tunisia and Yemen.
With its 1.000 in-depth interviews per country, the FES MENA Youth Study 2021 generates a large database of answers to more than 200 questions concerning the personal background of the interviewees and their answers to a variety of topics. The analysis of the data is currently ongoing; national and regional results shall be published soon.
FES MENA Youth Study 2016: Coping with Uncertainty
In 2016/2017, the FES conducted its first large-scale representative survey of youths and young adults in eight countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Encompassing around 9,000 young people between 16 and 30 years from Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia, the results offer fascinating insights into their attitudes to life, self-image, and perceptions of the future.
The FES MENA Youth Study 2016 reveals the uncertainties confronting young people from the region in many realms. However, faced with these imperatives, young people find ways to cope with difficult circumstances and discover their own solutions to make headway. Many of them look to the future with confidence, despite major economic upheavals and scant scope for political participation, as well as violence, war, poverty, and hunger in some countries.
In-depth analyses of the FES MENA Youth Study 2016 have been published in a collective work, “Coping with Uncertainty: Youth in the Middle East and North Africa”, edited by Jörg Gertel and Ralf Hexel in German, English and Arabic. With contributions by Mathias Albert, Ines Braune, Helmut Dietrich, Jörg Gertel, Sonja Hegasy, Ralf Hexel, David Kreuer, Rachid Ouaissa, Carola Richter, Christoph H. Schwarz, Nadine Sika, Thorsten Spengler, Friederike Stolleis, Ann-Christin Wagner, Isabelle Werenfels and Tamara Wyrtki.
Main Results of the 2016 Study
1. Young people in the MENA region are vulnerable
2. The family is the main point of reference
3. Young people’s gender roles reflect intersectional inequalities
4. Religiosity is increasing, but is practiced on an individual level
5. MENA youth distance themselves from politics
6. Democracy is the preferred political system
7. Political mobilisation focuses on socio-economic objectives
8. Civic engagement occurs outside institutions
9. Most young people do not want to emigrate
10. MENA youth are optimistic about the future
Publications
Doueihy, Michel
Youth in Lebanon 2021
FES MENA youth study: Results analysis
Beirut, 2022
Beirut, 2022
Download publication (1 MB, PDF-File)
Diab, Jasmin Lilian
Syrian refugee youth in Lebanon 2021
FES MENA youth study: results analysis
Berlin, 2022
Berlin, 2022
Download publication (1,6 MB PDF-File)
Gertel, Jörg; Kreuer, David
The impact of the pandemic on young people
A survey among "Young Leaders" in the Middle East and North Africa
LaMarsa, 2021
LaMarsa, 2021
Download publication (800 KB, PDF-File)
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Survey Data
The data collected on assignment by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and in collaboration of Kantar Public (previously TNS Infratest Politikforschung) and the University Leipzig can be found in separate PDF-Files for each country:
Questionnaire, MENA Regional overview, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syrian Refugees, Tunisia