Euromontana’s Vice President, Radu-Adrian Rey, was invited on 12th November 2021 for an interview by the national radio channel Radio Romania Antena Satelor to present some key findings of Euromontana’s survey on mountain youth.
After having presented the Euromontana network, and the many Romanian members who are part of it, Radu-Adrian Rey, explained that Euromontana has recently carried out a large European survey on mountain youth, gathering more than 1000 contributions from about 20 countries including Romania.
He stressed the importance of addressing the needs of young people living in the mountains, otherwise the problems of youth out-migration and depopulation will worsen. He also argued that maintaining the attractiveness of mountains among young people is crucial for ensuring generational renewal in traditional mountain farming in Romania.
Romania needs to improve access to certain services for young people, said Radu-Adrian Rey. The Euromontana survey reveals that 79% of young people living in the Romanian mountains are satisfied with internet access, which is even higher than the European level (75% satisfaction).
On the other hand, when it comes to access to education, Romania has the highest level of dissatisfaction of all the countries surveyed by Euromontana! 73% of the young people surveyed in Romania say that they are dissatisfied with access to education, whether vocational or lifelong, or even that the offer does not exist in their region. Despite these challenges, young people seem to be very attached to mountain life in Romania, especially enjoying the quality of life, the proximity to nature and because they have their families there.
Euromontana’s report on mountain youth will be published in early 2022, and the Romanian radio channel has invited Radu-Adrian Rey to come back and discuss it in more detail once it is published. In the meantime, you can listen to the interview, available on RoMontana’s YouTube channel.
25 November 2021
