Between the years 2007 and 2013, the difficulties faced in employment, housing and health worsened considerably in Spain. This article by the Social Observatory of "la Caixa” reflects on the problems that have intensified social exclusion which affects, above all, the younger population.

The economic crisis experienced by Spain has led to increasing numbers of young people opting to prolong their education given the lack of job prospects. This fact has caused overqualification among young people and the consolidation of unemployment.

How can we ensure that biomedical research is aligned with social needs? This article from the Social Observatory of “la Caixa” analyses how resources could be assigned efficiently.

Has the protection of children and young people decreased over the last decade? In many European countries the child poverty rate is higher than the poverty rate among people aged over 64 years. This divergence is especially pronounced in Spain.

Today, thanks to policies aimed at reconciling working life and family life, increasing numbers of men are taking parental leave to be able to raise their newborn children. These new policies represent progress towards gender equality, but in Spain a significant difference still exists between men and women in the usage they make of parental leave entitlements.

How should migration within the European context be studied? These two books, from the standpoints of gender and rurality, tackle a phenomenon previously studied above all in urban contexts with male protagonists. With these new perspectives, the scientific view offers extra depth to an issue of recent social importance.

Increasingly, the inhabitants of the suburbs have been choosing not to go and vote. What are the reasons that explain such extreme abstention by this collective in electoral processes? Has the new politics managed to draw greater participation from the more disadvantaged areas?

Atmospheric contamination causes 7 million deaths every year. María Neira, director of the WHO department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health, explains how policies focusing on improving people’s health also benefit the planet.

Has mass access of Spaniards to intermediate and higher education been associated with a deterioration in the quality of educational qualifications, as some international bodies have warned?

Despite its perception in recent years, education continues to be a very effective vehicle for social promotion, as well as a more significant factor than social origin in providing access to the professional classes.