In this piece, published in the Comment section of the Lancet.com, UNFPA's Executive Director argues for greater investment in the health and education of young people, who now number some 1.8 billion, and comprise a powerful force for development.
International Youth Day, on Aug 12, 2011, marked the end of the International Year of Youth, which the UN dedicated to the promotion of dialogue and mutual understanding between governments and young people. The occasion created an opportunity to look back and remember the value of meeting the needs of young people.
Investment in the 1·8 billion young people aged 10–24 years, who constitute more than a quarter of the world’s population, could change the lives of present and future generations, and indeed “Change Our World”, the theme of this year’s Youth Day. Investments are particularly important in developing countries, where 90 per cent of young people live.
Yet the response has been far from adequate. Although young people are able to bring about change, engagement with them has been tokenistic and sporadic. Young people make up half of the world’s unemployed population and more than half of those living in poverty, but, as of 2010, 44 of 66 countries did not consult with young people when preparing national poverty reduction strategies. Furthermore, only one in four of these strategies identifi es young people as a major group aff ected by poverty.
In view of competing priorities, countries often do not recognise the importance of young people in economic and social progress and, as a result, dedicate too few resources to harness their full potential. This shortage of investment undermines national growth and progress. To resolve this issue, investments in young people’s health and education are crucial. Health and education aff ect productivity of the future workforce and thus the economic growth of nations.
The benefits of investment in education, especially secondary education, are particularly high. For boys, future wages rise by 5–15 per cent. Returns are even higher for girls: an extra year of education boosts their future wages by 10–20 per cent. Moreover, the positive effect of girls’ education carries over to future generations, resulting in improved health outcomes for women, their children, and their grandchildren.
Investments in health are crucial to allow young people to reach their full potential. In turn, this improvement
greatly enhances countries’ productivity and prospects for development. Although maternal death and disability
are now largely preventable, complications of pregnancy and childbirth are still the leading causes of death in the
developing world in girls aged 15–19 years. And even if some progress has been made in halting the spread
of HIV in this group, young people accounted for 41 per cent of new HIV infections in the adult population in 2009.
The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) is working to expand age-appropriate sex education, as well as sexual and
reproductive health services that meet the needs of young people.
A key period for investment is adolescence, especially for the poorest girls who face discrimination because of
their age and sex. They are at high risk of child marriage, early pregnancy, school drop out, social exclusion,
gender-based violence, HIV infection, maternal illnesses, and death. To turn this situation around, UNFPA is
forming partnerships with countries as diverse as Guatemala, Malawi, and Ethiopia to empower young girls by promoting safe spaces, teaching leadership programmes, and running life-skills education activities, with a focus on sexual and reproductive health.
Although progress has been made in education and health, much is left to do. Despite gains in access to education, 13 per cent of individuals aged 15–24 years in developing countries are illiterate,6 and even those with basic literacy skills are not prepared for the job markets of a globalised world. Furthermore, young people have endured the worst eff ects of the current economic crisis.
In 2009, 81 million young people were unemployed, the highest number ever recorded. Even as the global economy slowly recovers, young people, and particularly young women, have difficulty finding jobs. The few economic opportunities and mechanisms to allow participation in creation of economic and political agendas have spurred recent revolutions of the Arab Spring led by young people seeking freedom, social justice, and change.
Clearly, substantial ef orts are needed to involve young people in decision making. Some initiatives are being implemented that could inspire further action. In Ghana, for example, the non-governmental organisation Young and Wise has partnered with the Youth Coalition and UNFPA to incorporate the rights and needs of young people into the growth and national poverty reduction strategy. This scheme includes strengthening of young people’s capacities to monitor and assess its implementation, and to hold their government accountable.
As the world population reaches 7 billion, young people’s rights and participation should be at the forefront of international development. A better world for future generations can be achieved only by fulfilling human rights and meeting the development needs of the large generation of young people.