This Summary Report presents the main findings and resulting reflections from the study on Youth Political Participation in Portugal (2019-2021), promoted by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in collaboration with the universities of Aveiro, Lisbon, Minho and Porto.
The main objective of this study was to explore youth political participation in Portugal. Specifically, it sought to analyze the evolution of young people's political participation in a comparative way over the last few decades; to draw a fine picture of young people's current (2020) political attitudes and behaviors; to study young people's relationship with political parties and associative structures; and, finally, to study emerging forms of youth activism.
To this end, this study used primary and secondary data obtained from:

  1. The European Social Survey from 2002 to 2019;
  2. An original survey of the Portuguese population aged 15 and over, with oversampling of young people (15-24) and "young adults" (25-34), carried out in the last quarter of 2020;
  3. Interviews with members of party and civic youth organizations;
  4. Online ethnography of activist collectives from different parts of the country, focused on different causes and with different political positions;
  5. Focus groups held with young activists with a wide range of orientations and causes: nationalism, anti-fascism, environment and climate change, gender equality, LGBTQ+ and student issues.
This report proposes some avenues for reflection on the study, organized around six central questions. The answers reflect the perspectives that emerged from the different methodological approaches used.

Download