The representation of young people in politics is key to strengthen their democratic engagement and encourage whole-of-society buy-in to tackle common challenges. To deliver youth-responsive policies, governments need to reinforce their technical and administrative capacities as well as ensure that young people are represented in politics to better inform decisions and deliver fairer outcomes (OECD, 2022). Large gaps in youth representation in politics continue to exist and addressing them is essential, as they may have a lifelong impact on trust in government and engagement in democracy (OECD, 2020).
While 20–39-year-olds represent 34% of the voting age population on average across OECD countries, only 23% of members of parliament (MPs) on average were under 40 in 2022 (representation gap of 11 percentage points). Variations appear across countries, with 39% of parliamentarians in Mexico being under 40 compared to 4% in Portugal. The largest representation gaps are seen in Israel, Türkiye and the United States (all -29 p.p.). In contrast, the proportion of young people in parliament closely approaches actual population proportions in Germany and Latvia (-1 p.p.), Denmark and Finland (-2 p.p.) (Figure 12.10).
Representation gaps also remain high in countries’ executive branches. In 2022, across OECD countries, only 56 out of 756 of cabinet members were under 40 (7%) and only 16 were aged 35 or under (2%). The average age of cabinet members across OECD countries has remained stable from 2018 at 53 years old, ranging from 65 in Japan to 45 in Denmark for 2022. The five youngest cabinets were in Denmark (average age of 45), Estonia (47), Lithuania (48), Sweden (48), Norway (49), and Finland (49). The countries experiencing the largest average age decreases compared to 2018 were Chile (with an average age decrease of 8 years), Germany (-7), Slovenia (-5), France (-5) and Greece (-5). On the other hand, the countries that experienced the most significant average age increase were Mexico (+6), Iceland (+6), Australia (+6), Canada (+5) and Italy (+5) (Figure 12.11).
Such representation gaps may have an impact on how likely young people are to engage in politics. On average across OECD countries, young people (ages 18-29) are less likely to engage in institutionalised forms of political activity than other age groups. The most marked gaps were noted between young people and those aged 50 and above. For instance, young people were less likely to vote in national elections (by 27 p.p. compared to those 50+) and regional elections (18 p.p.), as well as contact an elected policy maker or government official (7 p.p.). On the other hand, young people were more likely to engage in non-institutionalised forms of political activity, including signing an online or paper petition (7 p.p. compared to those 50+), taking part in public demonstrations (5 p.p.) and posting political content on social media (4 p.p.) (Figure 12.12).
