EU Should Prioritise Social Issues, Young Cypriots say

Among other findings, 44 per cent of young Cypriots said that social media is their top source of information on political and social issues compared to 42 per cent in the EU.

Also, 83 per cent of young Cypriots believe they were recently exposed to disinformation (76 per cent in the EU) and 85 per cent said they believe they could detect disinformation (70 per cent in the EU). 

The Eurobarometer Youth Survey was carried out by Ipsos between 25 September and 3 October 2024 in all 27 EU member states. A total of 25,863 young people aged 16-30 in the EU – out of which 514 in Cyprus – were surveyed via Computer-Assisted Web Interviewing (CAWI) using online panels. The results were weighted according to the proportion of this age group within each EU country.

On an EU level, rising prices and the cost of living were a concern for 40 per cent of participants, 33 per cent said they believed the EU should focus its attention on the environment and climate change over the next five years, while 31 per cent believe the economic situation and job creation should be a priority.

Also, 29 per cent want the EU to prioritise social protection, welfare and access to healthcare, 27 per cent highlighted education and training, 23 per cent focused on housing and 21 per cent on the EU’s defence and security as important priorities for the EU. European defence is of particular concern for young people in Czechia (36 per cent), Poland (33 per cent) and Estonia (32 per cent).

Social protection, welfare and access to healthcare was the most popular priority in Cyprus (37 per cent), followed by rising prices and the cost of living, the economic situation and job creation (31 per cent), as well as the environment and climate change.

Responding to questions on their main sources of news, findings for the EU show that social media is well above TV as the main source of information on political and social issues. Social media is the top source of information for 42 per cent of respondents aged 16-30, with television being the second most-popular source (39 per cent).

The preference for TV is particularly noticeable among those aged 25-30. This age bracket is also more likely to use online news platforms and radio than 16- to 18-year-olds. Younger participants (16-18) rely more on social media (45 per cent) than 25- to 30-year-olds (39 per cent), and trust friends, family or colleagues for information (29 per cent compared to 23 per cent).

TV also remains the leading source of information for young people in Portugal (53 per cent), Italy (52 per cent), Slovenia (45 per cent) and France (43 per cent). Online press and/or news platforms and radio are sources of information for 26 per cent of the younger participants and 16 per cent of their older counterparts. In the 2021 edition of the survey, the main sources of news were social media and news websites (each of which was mentioned by 41 per cent of respondents).

In Cyprus, social media platforms were the dominant source of news with 44 per cent, followed by video platforms (such as YouTube) at 31 per cent and television at 27 per cent. Radio is a source of information for only 8 per cent of young Cypriots.

When it comes to widely used social media, Instagram is the top platform for obtaining political and social news among young people in the EU (47 per cent), followed by TikTok (39 per cent). X (formerly Twitter) is only used by 21 per cent of young people, the survey shows.

In Cyprus, Facebook was found to be the main platform for news (52 per cent), followed by YouTube (43 per cent) and Instagram (31 per cent). X meanwhile is being used only by 20 per cent of young people in Cyprus.