Expectations and concerns of German youth from 2023

Are we living in fear of more war and disease or in hope for a better future? DW spoke to young people in Germany to get their thoughts on 2023. Some of their interesting responses were as follows:

Jordan Rathke, 27, from Frankfurt

“My personal life is fine, all my wishes have been fulfilled this year. Now the world needs to improve. So Covid must end and the war in Ukraine must stop now.”

Eighteen-year-old Dennis from Cologne

“I want my family to be healthy and safe, my grades in school to be good. I wish there were no more wars or anything like that in the world, but maybe that’s too unrealistic a wish.”

Frankfurt Mia Bosat, twenty years old

“I want to study medicine. I hope we survive capitalism. Because this is the reason for the climate disaster and also the reason for the huge psychological burden on the common people. I don’t think people are aware of that.”

Gregor Thaler, age 28, from Kiel

“I hope things will calm down next year. Both in my life and around the world. Personally, I’m currently moving house so my life is pretty hectic at the moment. Moving to a new house made me realize how much inflation has increased. The housing market is very tight. I also hope that inflation will not increase further. Overall I am quite optimistic that things will improve. But we have to wait and see how things play out in Ukraine.”

Sonita, 24 Cologne

“I hope that when I complete my training, I will find the right professional path for me, that is my biggest wish and that inflation does not increase further. “Everything is already too expensive.”

Twenty-two-year-old Valerie Schwan Toure, Berlin

“My wish is that we focus more on art and culture, on people, on our communities, in short, on the things that enrich our lives. In the Covid pandemic, we have seen how much all of this is precious and fragile, and we should value these things more.”

“And my wish for 2023 is that, despite all the craziness going on in the world, we keep ourselves calm and make our environment positive, we don’t let things happen that we can’t change. Instead, spend our energy on what we can actually build ourselves into: our environment, our community, our principles, and our desires.”

Seventeen-year-old Rachel, from Frankfurt

“I want a secure future where I can study and work without fear. I am afraid that I will have to do a job or work that I will not be happy with.

Jonathan, 24, Frankfurt

“I would like to continue my studies as I have been and I hope to meet a lot of people and travel a lot next year.”

Mathieu Gentile, 26, of Bellefield

“I am worried about German agriculture. Minimum wage and inflation-related savings programs due to increased environmental standards. The situation for farmers is getting critical day by day. I would like to see a change here, both in consumer behavior and politics. “

Amelie, 20, Cal

“I see extreme uncertainty in the year 2023. The current situation scares me, there are just crises everywhere. Climate change, war in Ukraine, Iranian protests, energy crisis, famine, natural disasters and many more. Some.. I hope that we as a people will work together with the politicians to overcome these challenges and finally bring everyone together. I want peace and justice. Especially women’s rights. It’s an important goal for me moving forward. Personally, I’m looking forward to attending concerts with my loved ones during my planned vacation in 2023.”

Daniel, 30, Cologne

“I wish we as a society would be more flexible and not always exaggerate everything. A little more calm and less knee-jerk reaction but I’m afraid things will stay the same or get worse.”

Chiara, 26, Ballyfield

“With regard to the culture of conflict and debate, I hope that this society will move towards more mutual understanding.” Often controversial topics are so divisive that a constructive debate is hardly possible. Representation of opinion cannot be resolved here. Differences should be tolerated.

Alvin Garcia, age thirty, Frankfurt

“I want people to love themselves more so they can live a happy life. And I want more stability and peace in the countries of the world.”

Simon, 22, Cologne

“My biggest wish is that disputes should be resolved diplomatically and housing should be affordable for students. I’m afraid the war will break out.”