People

Meet Ireland’s Generation Z: ‘More ambitious than our parents’

Proportion of Irish school-leavers going to third-level is 60%, the highest in Europe

Some 66 per cent of Irish 16- to 18-year-olds surveyed would find life difficult without their phones. File photograph: Getty Images

Carl O'Brien's face
Carl O'Brien
Sat Apr 14 2018 - 06:00

Phone

66 per cent of Irish 16- to 18-year-olds surveyed would find it difficult to go about their day-to-day life without their phones

39 per cent agree that their phone is a part of who they are

Work

43 per cent of young people in Europe are on fixed-term contracts, compared to 14 per cent of all workers

84 per cent say they are “more ambitious than their parents”

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68 per cent say they are “struggling to keep up with societal expectations of success”

Education

60 per cent – the proportion of Irish school-leavers going to third-level, the highest in Europe

Identity

62 per cent say they “don’t feel part of a generation – I’m just me”

94 per cent feel their generation is stereotyped

99 per cent agree that happiness is “being true to myself”

Anxiety

55 per cent agree they feel anxious on a day-to-day basis

50 per cent say they often feel that their friends and peers are doing better than them

57 per cent say they feel comfortable talking about their mental health

Values

85 per cent agree that they want to help others

78 per cent say having a positive impact on society is vital

Health

21 per cent – the proportion of 10- to 17-years-olds who admit to having been “really drunk” at some point, down from 33 per cent in 1998

8 per cent – the proportion of 10- to 17-year-olds who smoked in the past year, down from 23 per cent in 1998

Sources: Survey of 117 Irish 16- to 18-year-olds by The Youth Lab. OECD. Central Applications Office (CAO). NUI Galway's Health Promotion Research Centre