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IMPROVING YOUTHS' SOCIAL SITUATION IN THE EUROPEAN UNION
Authors: G. Rîmbu, PhD student 'Lucian Blaga' University of Sibiu, Sibiu, Romania, L. A. Constantinescu, PhD, Associate Professor 'Dimitrie Cantemir' Christian University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania

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The European Union's social policies of the last years aimed at improving the social conditions of youths across Europe. The
goal of this paper is to comparatively analyse the characteristics of youths and their social conditions in the EU-27, during 2006-
2016, using the following indicators associated to the young population: youth education and training, employment and
unemployment rates, health, social inclusion, culture and creativity, participation and youth in the digital world. The paper also
reviews the impact and efficiency of the EU's social policies in the current economic background, trying to catch the
improvements in young people's social conditions. For this purpose, there were used Employment and Social Conditions
Indicators and "Europe 2020" Strategy Indicators.
Our analysis reveals that over time the youths' aspirations and needs have changed along with their social conditions. The
EU is obviously making progress in improving the social policies addressed to young people, but there are still visible
differences between the member states and new, innovative approaches are required to respond to youths' needs in the fastchanging
economic and political context of Europe.