Young people today are better educated than any previous generation, but 130-million youths are still illiterate, more than half a billion live on less than $2 a day, and a record 88-million are unemployed, according to a United Nations report.
The UN World Youth Report 2005 provides a snapshot of the 1,2-billion young people aged 15 to 24 who are increasingly seeking the bright lights of cities, engaging in international activities, and becoming more influenced by the global media than by their own families and communities.
”While there is still enormous diversity among young people worldwide, the processes of urbanisation and globalisation and rapid advances in information and communications techology have arguably contributed to the emergence of a new global media-driven youth culture,” UN Undersecretary-General for Economic and
Social Affairs Jose Antonio Ocampo said in a foreword to the report, which was released on Tuesday.
But the 192-page report highlights the stark differences in the lives and opportunities of young people in poor African and Asian nations and richer Western countries.
Almost half of the world’s 15- to 24-year-olds were living on less than $2 a day, and over 200-million, about 18%, were trying to survive on less than $1 a day in 2002 — the vast majority in south Asia, east Asia and the Pacific, and sub-Saharan
Africa, the report said.
While malnutrition strikes millions, the main killer of 15 to 24-year-olds is HIV/Aids.
Ten million young people — mostly in Africa and Asia — are currently living with HIV or Aids, and ”the epidemic has had a devastating impact on the sexual and reproductive health of young people, as they are particularly vulnerable to infection”, the report said.
It also found that globally, young people are reaching adolescence earlier, marrying later, and increasingly engaging in premarital sex although early pregnancy has declined in many countries.
The health of young people is also being affected by the ”unprecedented increase in the use of synthetic drugs worldwide, mostly in recreational settings”, the report said.
In a new trend, it said, ”the demand for illicit substances among youth in developing countries has risen to levels typically found in industrialised countries”.
The highest arrest rates are also found among 15 to 24-year-olds, and disproportionate numbers of young people are affected by the increase in violent conflicts, both as perpetrators and victims, it said.
The report said the statistics and trends point to one key message — investments in young people need to be increased to implement the 1995 World Programme of Action for Youth and to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals.
They include cutting extreme poverty by half, ensuring universal primary education, and stemming the HIV/Aids pandemic, all by 2015.
But the investments must also focus on the 1,8-billion youngsters currently under the age of 15 because they will be the 15 to 24-year-old generation in 2015 when the Millennium Development Goals are supposed to be reached, the report said.
”Since 1995, the number of children completing primary school has continued to increase and four out of five young people … are now in secondary school,” the report said. Higher education is also increasing and it’s estimated that about 100-million youths are presently engaged in university-level studies worldwide, it said.
”The current generation of youth is the best-educated so far. However, 113-million children are not in school and 130-million young people are illiterate,” the report said.
Despite improvements in education, youth unemployment is at a record high of 88-million, with the highest rates in western Asia, north Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, it said.
”Usually youth are the last to be employed and the first to be fired,” said Johan Scholvinck of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
”Investing in young people is especially important to have a growing economy,” he said.
”They are the future. You cannot have successful growth if you don’t have skilled and active youth in your economy.”
The UN General Assembly is scheduled to focus on youth issues at a meeting on Thursday. Forty-eight youth delegates are on the delegations of 24 countries. – Sapa-AP