Through the EU Youth Strategy1 group to discuss, in consultation with relevant policy areas, existing data on the situation of
young people and the possible need for the development of indicators in fields where they do not exist, or where no youth perspective is apparent. The results of this work and proposals for potential new indicators should be submitted for consideration by the Council no later than December 2010″.
Accordingly, the Commission established an ad-hoc expert group on youth indicators in January 2010. The group has had two meetings (January and April 2010) as well as extensive contact by email. It has been comprised of 60 experts from 25 Member States plus Norway2 coming from public administrations, research institutions and statistical agencies as well as from different youth stakeholder groups3
The EU Youth Strategy does not operate with an official definition for the specific period in life when a person is considered to be “young”. This definition varies from one Member State to another and the age to consider differs with time and socio-economic development. As an instrument for implementing the EU Youth Strategy, the ‘Youth in Action’ programme targets young people between 13 and 304 categories where possible, covering the age-range 15-30. For some indicators it is more suitable to target a more limited age range (for example early leavers from education and training), to target the child population (at risk of poverty or social exclusion) or, on the other hand, a limited sample size may necessitate using other age categories. All indicators will further be broken down by gender and, where relevant, by educational attainment. The dashboard will be updated and revised on an annual basis. , the Council invited the Commission to “set up a working and the Commission.