On 28 November 2025, staff members of the Youth Research Institute visited Pamplona at the invitation of the University of Navarra, where they took part in the conference “Challenges of Family Formation in the 21st Century”. At the University of Navarra (Universidad de Navarra) — Spain’s leading private university and one of the highest-ranked universities nationally — several research groups, such as FareLAB (Family Relations Lab) and Youth in Transition (ICS), conduct work on youth and family issues similar to that of the Youth Research Institute.
The aim of the late-November conference was to explore how younger generations think about and make decisions related to family formation, marriage and having children. The presentations examined questions such as:
• What do young people today think about family, marriage and childbearing?
• What social, economic and cultural processes hinder or support the formation of families?
• How do labour-market conditions, lifestyle and young people’s vision of the future influence their decisions?
Representing the Youth Research Institute, Georgina Kiss-Kozma and Levente Székely delivered presentations, and Gergely Réti joined the professional discussion that followed. The research presented drew attention to the fact that although the traditional family model remains significant among younger generations, and marriage and parenthood are widely desired, young people also face other competing priorities: financial difficulties, housing, work, mobility and self-realisation. When it comes to the main trends, differences across the developed world are relatively small. Although the extent varies, all countries are confronted with declining birth rates — a development that poses serious challenges for the future not only for social systems but also for national economic prosperity and the preservation of culture.
Placing youth at the centre of analysis is crucial if we are to possess meaningful information about the future. While many young people regard the traditional family as important, the questions of when and under what circumstances they will have children remain essential. The empirical research conducted by the Youth Research Institute, as well as by research groups such as FareLAB (Family Relations Lab) and Youth in Transition (ICS) at the University of Navarra, sheds light on the real social attitudes underlying demographic trends. These studies help us better understand why young people delay starting families or choose not to have children.
Such international professional events contribute to future policy recommendations — and to family and youth policy measures — by providing findings that are comparable across countries and interpretable within a broader context.
