Family plays a role in goals

Survey shows youth consider helping parents their priority

FAMILY bonds remain a strong driver of life ambitions among young Filipinos today.

A survey commissioned by Youth Leadership for Democracy (Youthled) has found that nearly three-quarters of the respondents, or 72%, consider being financially helpful to parents and siblings as their most important aspiration.

Smaller numbers say their top life goal was to live independently from parents (36%); to get a college degree (29%); to start their own business (28%); and to have meaningful work (28%).

Conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS), the survey consisted of 4,900 respondents aged 15 to 30 years old, and was held nationwide from March 14-29, 2021.

The results revealed comparisons on the state of the youth in terms of personal health, pride in being a Filipino and satisfaction in the way democracy works in the country.

Youthled party chief Natalie Christine Jorge said the group commissioned the survey to help strengthen the youth’s civic engagement with updated information about this age group.

According to SWS vice-president Gerardo “Jay” Sandoval, a similar survey was done in 1996, involving 12,000 respondents.

For the 2021 survey, he said there were 100 respondents from each of the country’s 17 administrative regions, plus 100 respondents from 32 areas identified by Youthled.

Four in every five (81%) belonged to the Class E economic group; one in every seven (15%) were Class D; and 4% were from Classes A, B and C.

Young people understood the meaning of democracy in terms of social inequality (33%, good governance (25%), norms and procedures (22%), and freedom and liberty (19%).

Seventy percent were satisfied with the way democracy works in the country, higher than the 55% who said so in the 1996 survey.

Among the most satisfied about Philippine democracy were those from Mindanao (84%); 72% in the Visayas; 66% in Luzon; and 55% in Metro Manila.

In terms of employment, onethird (33%) said they saw enough job opportunities within their home province or city.

Close to one-fourth (23%) said they have local opportunities but prefer to work elsewhere in the country, while one-fifth (20%) saw better opportunities abroad but preferred to stay in the Philippines.

Nine percent cited lack of local opportunities and 8% said they preferred working and living abroad, while 7% didn’t know where to find employment.