When a government announces that unemployment is down to 6%, what does that number actually measure? When a climate report says emissions must fall by 45% by 2030, how do you evaluate whether a policy gets there? When your rent increases by “just 3%”, how does that relate to inflation, wages, and housing supply?
All of these are maths questions. All of them are political questions. And yet, formal education has long treated mathematics as a neutral, abstract discipline, separate from society, separate from power, separate from you.
Civic Maths was born from a simple observation: young people across Europe are more politically aware than ever, but less equipped than ever to engage with the quantitative language of public debate. Not because they can’t, but because nobody taught them that maths and citizenship belong in the same conversation.
This project brings together youth workers and educators from France, Poland, Belgium, Romania, and Norway to build that bridge. Through co-created materials, free training modules, and hands-on workshops, Civic Maths makes mathematical reasoning a tool for civic participation.
This is not remedial maths. This is not civics dressed up with numbers. It’s a new approach, grounded in non-formal education, driven by real questions young people ask, and built to last beyond the project timeline.
Every activity uses real data from real civic issues, budgets, climate, migration, housing. No invented problems.
Youth workers and young people shaped every module. The curriculum reflects what’s needed in the field, not what looks good on paper.
All materials are published openly in five languages. Adapt them, translate them, use them. That’s the point.