The proportion of young German men who consider themselves politically “more to the right” has risen significantly since 2019, according to a new study released on Tuesday.
In a survey conducted at the beginning of 2024, a quarter of all young men in Germany stated that they were politically “right-wing” or “fairly right-wing.”
A report by the German News Service (delivered by dpa) revealed that in 2019, the proportion was 16 percent, according to the Shell Youth Study, which was commissioned by the multinational oil giant Shell. The results of the study were presented in Berlin at midday.
Among young women, on the other hand, political orientation has remained relatively stable, with only a very slight increase from 10 percent in 2019 to 11 percent in the most recent survey.
The survey asked 2,509 young people between the ages of 12 and 25 about their attitudes to various topics, including family, friends, political attitudes and current conflicts in the world.
Researchers from Bielefeld University and Austria’s Vorarlberg University of Education analyzed the material in collaboration with the Verian Institute.
The researchers’ findings align with September regional election results in three eastern German states, in which exit polls found that young voters in particular backed the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
Author of the study, Mathias Albert, said some young people are particularly susceptible to right-wing populist political appeals.
“We see a considerable proportion of disgruntled young people, around 12 percent of young people in total,” he said, adding: “There is also a considerable proportion of critical and dissatisfied young people.”
However, he and his team do not see a general shift to the right among young people even as the overall results indicated that young people on average even place themselves “slightly to the left.”
What is striking, however, is that young people, regardless of gender, have a clearer idea of their political attitudes than they did five years ago. While in 2019, around 17 percent of young men said they did not know where they stood politically, in 2024 only 8 percent responded with “don’t know” to that question. The trend was similar for young women.
Overall, however, trust in the state and democracy is “stable,” the researchers found. Nevertheless, today’s youth generation has major concerns and global politics have “left their mark.”
A total of 80 percent of participants stated that they were afraid of war in Europe just as an equally large proportion were concerned about the economic situation and the possibility of growing poverty.
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Meanwhile, the amount of time people in Germany spend reading has declined by five minutes per day in the past decade, a new government report released on Tuesday has shown.
According to Germany’s Federal Statistical Office, the most recent data from 2022 found that Germans spent an average of 27 minutes a day reading printed or digital media such as books or newspapers, a decline of five minutes from 2012.
In contrast, people in Germany spend more than four times as much time watching television and streaming, averaging two hours and eight minutes. The average daily TV viewing time has increased by four minutes since 2012.
When Germans do read, they are most likely to read books, spending an average of 12 minutes a day on them, the agency reported.
According to the survey, newspapers were read for an average of nine minutes a day.
The survey covered books, newspapers and magazines that are read in printed or electronic form. Girls and women read an average of 30 minutes per day in 2022, while boys and men averaged 24 minutes. Older people also spend more time reading, the survey found.
The 65-plus age group averaged 54 minutes a day in the survey, while 45-to 64-year-olds spent 26 minutes. The 30 to 44-year-olds read for an average of 13 minutes a day, while the 18 to 29-year-olds read for just 11 minutes.
Children and young people aged 10 to 17 were in the middle of the field with 19 minutes. Children under 10 years old were not part of the survey. Reading aloud to children and reading in connection with education or as part of job duties were not included in the count.
