Gen Z's Global Uprising: Inequality and Governance Failures Fuel Youth Protests Worldwide

A wave of protests is sweeping across Europe and beyond, with many demonstrations being labeled as “Gen Z protests.” Young people, aged approximately 13 to 29, are at the forefront, voicing concerns over issues that significantly impact their generation. In France, protests initially sparked by deteriorating conditions in severely underfunded schools have gained momentum, with reports indicating that between half a million and 800,000 individuals participated in nationwide demonstrations last weekend. The image of French students clashing with police near Lycee Le Corbusier senior high school in Aubervilliers on October 1, 2026, serves as a stark visual of this unrest.

Beyond France, the “Cockroach movement” in India has emerged as a formidable challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s increasingly authoritarian leadership. The movement's leader was arrested last week amidst growing anger over the removal of over 130 million names from electoral rolls. In Spain, discontent has arisen from a fractured housing system and legislation that fails to protect households from eviction. The forcible eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal, who passed away two weeks later, and the subsequent parliamentary rejection of widely supported eviction protection laws, prompting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to call snap elections, highlight the severity of the housing crisis.

While the specific contexts vary by country, a common thread of grievances over inequality underpins the current protest wave. This inequality manifests in two key areas: class and generation. Since the 2008 crisis, inequality has surged across Europe, evidenced by widening income disparities and escalating wealth inequality. The erosion of once-robust European welfare states has compounded these effects. Public services, historically intended to ensure a minimum standard of living and foster meritocracy, have been weakened by years of austerity, diminishing the state's capacity to provide quality education, healthcare, and social care. This gradual withdrawal of state support disproportionately affects those who cannot afford private services, exacerbating existing inequalities.

These growing inequalities are often felt more acutely by young people, who also face other compounding challenges. Failures in governance across various sectors have resulted in a bleaker outlook and diminished prospects for youth compared to previous generations. Underfunded education systems have contributed to a significant decline in reading and maths skills, as indicated by recent PISA results. While declining mental health and school absences, potentially linked to social media, are often cited, the rapid increase in AI usage also plays a role. Efforts to regulate social media and AI have been slow, hampered by lobbying from tech giants. The AI revolution is also impacting the labor market, with entry-level jobs increasingly being automated.

Housing remains another critical area where young people face disadvantages, with current generations dedicating a significantly larger portion of their income to rent than ever before. This situation is also attributed to governance failures. Furthermore, the climate crisis represents perhaps the most significant governance failure, with the latest IPCC report underscoring the precarious future for those born in 2020. Increasingly unequal societies are less equipped to handle the instability of climate change, placing the burden of adaptation on individuals and households rather than collective action.

In essence, multiple governance failures and the erosion of state capacity have created an explosive situation for young people, fueling the anger seen on the streets of Paris, New Delhi, Rome, and Madrid. The predominant governmental response has been repression, a trend seen globally, through anti-protest laws, arrests, and police violence. While repression can sometimes quell protests, it often inflames them, as has been the case in France and India. Genuine efforts to address the root causes of inequality and governance failures are essential to de-escalate these political crises and provide young people with a more hopeful future.