Young people from outside the Balearic Islands emancipate three times more than those born here

PalmaAccess toyouth emancipation in the Balearic Islands is sufficiently conditioned by place of origin and gender, but also by a context of labor precarity that hinders the construction of solid and independent life projects. This is what the Youth Yearbook 2025 reports, which indicates that the differences in access to housing and employment “show structural inequalities that institutions have not yet tackled with enough force”.

The data show a very marked gap according to place of birth. Among young people aged 16 to 29 born in the Balearic Islands, only 8.44% are emancipated. On the other hand, the figure rises to 26.84% among those born in other autonomous communities and to 27.25% among those born abroad, who almost triple the percentage of native-born residents.

The pattern is maintained in the 25 to 29 age group: only 23.42% of young people born in the Balearic Islands are emancipated, compared to 44.73% of those born in other communities and 42.35% of those born outside the State. According to the report, this behavior is partly explained because "young migrants to the Balearic Islands often arrive already emancipated or are forced to become independent due to a lack of family support network", which highlights the weight of the family and migratory context in the possibility of starting an independent life.

The Yearbook also emphasizes that these differences are not due to individual decisions, but to structural conditions. In this regard, it states that inequalities of origin and gender "are not the result of chance or individual decisions, but the reflection of unequal material, social and cultural conditions", and that these directly condition the life trajectories of young people.

Labor precariousness and difficulty of emancipation

The work context appears as another key factor limiting emancipation. Although the youth employment rate may suggest work activity, the report warns that it does not imply stability. Youth employment in the Balearic Islands is marked by temporality, unwanted part-time jobs, overqualification, low wages, and high turnover. This combination of factors makes it difficult to access sufficient income to become independent.

The data by sex also reflect a persistent gap. The male employment rate stands at 58.6%, while the female rate drops to 47.8%, almost 11 points less. This difference indicates that young women have more difficulty accessing the labor market and that, when they do, they often do so in less stable and more precarious conditions.

Youth unemployment reinforces this inequality. Thus, while it is 10.6% among men, it reaches 19% among women, almost double. According to the Yearbook, this not only shows difficulties in accessing work, but also a “distribution of job insecurity by gender”, which means a double penalty for young women.

In this context, the report recalls that “the figures remind us that having a job is not synonymous with living with dignity”, as many young people cannot build an autonomous life project due to economic insecurity and salaries that do not adjust to a skyrocketing cost of living.

Gender inequalities

Regarding gender, data show that young women born outside the Balearic Islands have higher emancipation rates than men. Among those born in other autonomous communities, the rate is 32.49%, and among those born in other countries, it reaches 36.73%. The report interprets that this may reflect a greater need for autonomy in migratory contexts, but also situations of vulnerability and lack of family support that accelerate leaving the parental home. Gender acts as a factor that amplifies existing inequalities, especially when combined with migration and job insecurity.

Access to housing appears as one of the main structural obstacles. The Yearbook states that the cost of acquiring free housing far exceeds the economic capacity of young people. The minimum income required reaches 65,276.40 euros per year, a figure that is far above average youth salaries, making independence difficult. This mismatch between income and real estate market prices, coupled with job insecurity, paints a scenario in which emancipation becomes an increasingly difficult goal to achieve.

Political response

Faced with this panorama, the 2025 Youth Yearbook calls for public policies that go beyond job creation and guarantee dignified, stable working conditions with full rights. It also underlines the need to incorporate a feminist perspective to reduce gender inequalities in access to the labor market.

In parallel, the report insists on the need for specific measures to guarantee access to housing and to compensate for the structural inequalities that condition emancipation. The objective, according to the document, is that the possibility of becoming independent does not depend on the place of birth or gender, but rather that it is a real option for all the youth of the land.