At the macroeconomic level, Spain is booming. In fact, a few months ago, the OECD identified the country as the fastest-growing advanced economy this year, with a projected growth rate of up to 2.6%. But while the big numbers are dazzling, for many children and young people the narrative of economic growth sounds distant, almost unreal. Their reality is quite different: one of precariousness, inaccessible housing, and vanishing opportunities. Since 2007, social exclusion among children and young people has steadily increased, and today it is consolidating into a genuine generational divide. This is the warning issued in the 9th Foessa Report, prepared by Cáritas and presented this Wednesday. The foundation points out that children are emerging as the hardest-hit group: minors represent a third of all severe exclusion, and their poverty rate has risen to 29%, the highest of all age groups and one of the highest in Europe. Young people are one of the other two most affected groups.

In a stadium where Pelé was crowned one of the best players in the world or where Philipp Lahm lifted the World Cup trophy against Leo Messi, Barça will be looking to win a title they haven't yet secured. Led by coach Juliano Belletti, the new manager of the reserve team and Youth League champion in April, a mix of players from Barça Atlètic and the Juvenil A team (all under twenty) will travel to Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday morning to play in the Intercontinental Cup final against Brazilian side Flamengo2 (Flamengo Brasil2). The trophy, now in its fourth edition, pits the Youth League champion against the winner of the U-20 Copa Sudamericana in a 90-minute match with no extra time.

The reality for young people in Spain is harsh: they need to spend more than 90% of their income on rent, and more than 35% if they decide to share an apartment. These two figures surely explain why almost eight out of ten young Catalans between the ages of 16 and 34 cannot leave their family home, according to the latest report from the Emancipation Observatory of the Spanish Youth Council. In fact, the emancipation rate in this age group in Catalonia is only 17.6%.

We take the question Who, if not you? from the slogan with which the esplais movement sought to challenge young leaders at a meeting of educators. The intention was to empower them, to make them aware of their personal responsibility when it comes to educating children in camps and recreation centers. This expression motivates our reflection on World Youth Day, avoiding a negative, even realistic, analysis that lists the difficulties young people face today: working conditions when they work, housing, employability despite the high levels of training they have received, leisure time associated with substance use... We could reflect on so many circumstances that limit them from the opportunities that arise today.

Polarization among young Spaniards is increasing. Although the generation between 15 and 29 years old shares many concerns, such as housing and mental health, their ideological positions are increasingly opposed. The distance is accentuated when comparing the thoughts of men and women, given that the ideological gap is widening. Specifically, men are divided between ideologies: 25% are on the right and 33% in the center, while 31% adhere to the left. As for women, 41% define themselves as left-wing, compared to 21% who define themselves as right-wing. 7% of men and 6% of women are on the far right. "We need to understand what is happening to young people in that country," said the Minister of Youth and Children, Sira Rego.

The data is clear: Young people are one of the most conservative groups in Catalan society.. Young people between 18 and 24 years old are the least supporters of democracy and, in addition, in this sector the rejection of immigration and feminism is growing, a phenomenon that experts link the rise of the far right on social mediaAll of this coexists with traditional avenues for activism in the youth wing of political parties, which remain a minority form of association among young people. Now, how are youth organizations dealing with the decline of more progressive positions among young people and the far-right's online guerrillas?

This Saturday is the premiere and there will surely be nerves about exposing yourself in front of the general public. The entity La Xixa and the Casal dels Infants once again combine creativity to bring a group of artists on stage. Young migrants without family references in a play that talks about immigration. The script is simple, as will be the few words of the text, because in this story the actors do not need to put themselves in the skin of the character: the character – the person – is them. The first appointment is at 7 pm in the auditorium of the CCCB del Raval and they hope to be able to do it. bowling in schools, civic centres and libraries.

"I imagined something spectacular, but the day you arrive at the PSG training ground and see seventeen pitches, everything goes beyond expectations. It's an amazing adventure," says Sergi Mora, the coach of Girona, one of the surprise teams in the Youth League. Undefeated in the first phase, they face the round of 32 in Greece on Wednesday, against Olympiacos, the reigning champions, in a single match (4 p.m., Movistar).

Young people in Barcelona speak less Catalan than we thought and leave home earlier. This is what emerges from the latest Youth Survey presented this Wednesday by the Barcelona City Council based on 1,407 interviews of young people between the ages of 15 and 34 between March and July last year. Until now, the questionnaire on young people in Barcelona only included those registered as residents in the city, but in this edition it has also included those who are not but have been living in the Catalan capital for at least six monts. It has been done "to discover the social reality of the street," explained the Councillor for Children, Youth, the Elderly and People with Disabilities, Joan Ramon Riera. And including these young people, 13.4% of those surveyed, has changed things. For a start, it makes it possible to make a more realistic estimate of how many young people there are in the city and the figure rises to 404,805. Of these, 58% were not born in Barcelona, but have come to work (33%), study (27%), with their parents or other family members (22%) or for other reasons. "We are importing young people," said Riera. However, he acknowledged that the survey does not shed any light on young people who have decided to leave Barcelona and try their luck elsewhere. "We don't know how many young people Barcelona is expelling, but we do know that it is a great centre for work that creates jobs and that life here is more expensive".