Soaring Costs Spark Youth Unrest Across Europe: France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal Face Growing Anger

Student protests, initially focused on educational issues in France, have now expanded across Europe, fueled by broader discontent over the rising cost of living and planned cuts to public services. What began in September with French pupils demonstrating against overcrowded classrooms and teacher shortages has escalated into widespread anger, with similar protests occurring in Albania, Belgium, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Young people in these nations are taking to the streets to voice concerns about the lack of affordable housing, increasing costs, and failing public services, with many expressing a sense of diminished future prospects compared to their parents.

Leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Spain’s PM Pedro Sanchez, and Portugal’s PM Luis Montenegro are facing this mounting unrest. Despite their varying political stances – Sanchez on the left, Meloni on the right, and Macron and Montenegro as centrist-leaning conservatives – all are grappling with public dissatisfaction driven by soaring living expenses. Al Jazeera has visualized the changes in prices, wages, housing, and education in France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal over the past 26 years, a period coinciding with the leaders' own younger years.

Since 2000, the cost of everyday items like food, energy, transport, and utilities has increased by 59 to 78 percent in France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, according to Eurostat. Spain experienced the highest rise at 78 percent, followed by Portugal (71 percent), Italy (68 percent), and France (59 percent). This means items costing 100 euros in 2000 now cost approximately 178 euros in Spain, 171 in Portugal, 168 in Italy, and 159 in France. While prices rose by an average of 2 percent annually, a significant surge occurred in 2022, with annual inflation reaching 8.7 percent in Italy, 8.3 percent in Spain, 8.1 percent in Portugal, and 5.9 percent in France – the highest rates in these countries since at least 2000. This inflation spike was largely attributed to energy costs, which escalated following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. By October 2022, energy prices in the eurozone were nearly 42 percent higher than the previous year, with food prices also rising sharply.

Between 2021 and 2023, prices increased by 12 to 15 percent across the four nations. Wages have not kept pace, and with prices remaining elevated even as inflation eases, many households continue to feel the financial strain.

Regarding salaries, real wages have seen varied changes. After accounting for inflation, the average full-time wage in Italy decreased by nearly 5 percent between 2000 and 2025. In contrast, real wages rose by 7 percent in Spain, 11 percent in France, and 20 percent in Portugal during the same period, according to OECD data adjusted by Eurostat's price index. In Spain, many new jobs are in the poorly paid tourism and services sectors. Experts note that aging societies are limiting opportunities for younger workers, and the widening pay gap between older and younger generations means the traditional promise of each generation being better off than the last is no longer guaranteed.

Housing affordability has also declined in all four countries since 2000, as indicated by the OECD's price-to-income ratio. Spain shows the most significant change, with its ratio 56 percent higher than in 2000, despite a drop after the 2008 financial crisis. France's ratio is 39 percent higher, though it has slightly decreased from its 2022 peak. Italy is an outlier, with house prices largely keeping pace with incomes, resulting in a ratio only 5 percent higher than in 2000. Portugal has experienced a notable shift, with its ratio falling for 15 years after 2000, making homes more affordable, but then rising by 67 percent since 2015.

Public spending on education, a key factor in the unrest in France, has seen shifts. France's public spending on education is 5.1 percent of its GDP, down from 5.6 percent in 2000. Italy spends 4.4 percent of its GDP on education, compared to 4 percent in 2024. Spain has maintained spending at 4.1 percent of GDP since 2000, and Portugal's spending has decreased from 4.8 percent in 2000 to 4.3 percent in 2024.