August 12, 2010 – In December 2009, the United Nations (UN) declared this day forth (August 12th) the beginning of the ‘International Year of Youth’. According to the UN, this initiative is an effort to harness the energy, imagination and initiative of the world’s youth in overcoming the challenges facing humankind, from enhancing peace to boosting economic development.The theme for the year will be ‘Dialogue and Mutual Understanding’ as youth bodies encourage all sectors of society to work in partnership with youth and youth organizations to better understand their needs and concerns as well as to recognize the contributions that they can make to society.
The International Year of Youth also comes at a time when global youth unemployment rate is at an all time high. According to a new report recently published by the International Labour Organization (ILO), of the 620 million economically active youth between the ages of 15 and 24, 81 million were out of work at the end of 2009. There was a noticeable increase of over 2% from the 2007 figures of 11.9%, therefore making this the highest rate ever. With economies worldwide still recovering from the last 2 year economic slump, the ILO predicts there will be huge numbers of unemployed youths adding to this number.
In developed countries the ramifications of high numbers of youth unemployment means societies losing their investment in the education of young people, while governments receive fewer contributions to social security systems and must boost spending on remedial services, according to the ILO report. Closer to home in Africa where developing countries account for almost 90% of the world’s youths, the ramifications are much worse, with a serious threat of social disruption. Individually, figures of youth population may more than double by 2050 according to Carl Haub, senior demographer at the Population Reference Bureau (PRB) and co-author of the 2009 World Population Data Sheet published a year ago today.
Young people are the drivers of economic development […] Forgoing this potential is an economic waste and can undermine social stability stressed Mr. Juan Somavia, ILO’s Director General.
Far from being the drivers of economic development, with such high numbers of youth population, youths are undoubtedly the building blocks for most developing countries development process.
Read the full International Year of Youth Article HERE or view it below.
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