A new report published by the Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society Affairs (MUCF) shows that today fewer young people regard equality as one of the most important social issues compared with previous years.

The proportion of young people who consider gender equality to be one of the most important social issues has dropped from 21 per cent to 13 per cent in 2024. The issue continues to be more important for girls than for boys. These findings are from the report How Young People Think in 2025 – Democracy and Important Social Issues.

It is worrying that gender equality has lost significance among young people. If gender equality is not given priority, progress towards equal rights for all could stall in the future,

said Magnus Jagerskog, Director-General of the MUCF, in a press release.

Only 16 per cent of young people aged 16 to 29 believe that gender equality in Sweden has gone too far (compared with 14 per cent in the most recent 2019 survey), while more than 66 per cent disagree.

Among the “older group” aged 30 to 74, just over 14 per cent said that gender equality in Sweden has gone too far, with nearly 70 per cent disagreeing.

The report highlights a significant difference between boys and girls. Twenty-three per cent of boys believe gender equality has gone too far, compared with just 8 per cent of girls. Meanwhile, 79 per cent of girls and 53.5 per cent of boys disagreed with the idea that gender equality in Sweden has gone too far.

The results show that young people gave an average score of 3.9 on a scale of 1 to 5, which indicates that overall they take a positive view of gender equality. Girls on average were more positive than boys, and the older comparison group also showed a more positive attitude than the younger group.

Boys’ views on gender roles are more traditional

More than one-fifth of young people believe it is important for girls to be feminine and for boys to be masculine, and this proportion has increased since 2018. A shift towards more traditional views of gender roles is particularly evident among boys: 32 per cent of them agreed, compared with 11 per cent of girls.

Views on gender norms can affect young people’s choices in education, work or parenting. Restrictive norms can limit their chances of establishing themselves in adult life. Every young person should have good opportunities to make constructive life choices. That is why it is important to follow how these attitudes develop over time,

said Jagerskog.

The survey is carried out roughly every six years, most recently in 2019.