An Examination of Young People’s Vulnerability in the Context of the Hungarian Youth Survey 2000-2020

Abstract

Youth is the age associated with vulnerability. The concept of vulnerability refers to defencelessness, lack of protection, exposure to the risks of structural and societal changes, and limited access to the resources needed to cope. In this paper, I analyse six waves of data capture (2000-2020) from the survey series Magyar Ifjúság (Hungarian Youth) that was conducted with eight thousand participants (15-29 years of age) for 20 years and attempt to identify the most vulnerable groups of youth in Hungary in certain priority areas where youth are present: in education and the labour market. When examining youth vulnerability, I pay particular attention to the risk of digital vulnerability: those young people who were excluded from the information society that was emerging during the examined period and who are not connected to the internet. I introduce the concept of a new type of extreme vulnerability. When performing a secondary analysis of longitudinal youth research data, I also test my hypothesis that groups of young people who are otherwise not or less impacted by traditional vulnerabilities may also be affected – youth with higher-level education, and those living in cities under orderly financial circumstances. The analysis of data shows that Roma youth constitute the particularly vulnerable group of youth in Hungary. Non-internet-enabled youth aged 15-29 are an extreme vulnerable group of people. However, youth with a higher education degree living in county capitals were also affected by the new type of vulnerability that is emerging due to global risks.