Young India’s Aspiration Worries:
A recent report released by Lokniti-CSDS in collaboration with Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, which interviewed 6,277 youth aged 15-34 across 18 states in July-August 2021, offers insights on their career aspirations, job preferences and expectations, their opinions on institutions of kinship, and their mental health.
- Occupation status: Two-fifths (39%) of India’s youth identify themselves as students. While more young men (39%) compared to young women (11%) were working, a higher proportion of young women (42%) were studying than young men (36%).
- Employment: More than half (55%) said they would prefer a government job; a quarter (24%) would prefer to start their own business.
- Many youth are now marrying at a later age than before. The study indicates that the proportion of married youth has decreased by 13 percentage points since 2007 and five percentage points since 2016. In the present study, 42% said they are married.
- Youth showed a greater acceptance for the idea of inter-caste marriage than for inter-religious marriage.
- Mental health: The study found that the family’s financial security worried the youth the most, followed by their own health.
- About six in ten (56%) worried about their jobs, and more than half (54%) about their physical appearance.
