BYEGEM Report’s Advisory Board in its Advisory Board and Chair of the Commonwealth Students Association (CSA), Musarrat Mesha Raza
Developed by the Commonwealth Secretariat, the World Youth Development Index reports the state of health and fitness, education, employment, equality and involvement, political participation, and security for more than 1.8 billion youths from 181 countries on the day of this day. This informs policy makers about the needs and opportunities of the youth and provides policy -based recommendations. It highlights the importance of collecting data on young people’s key indicators to achieve sustainable development goals, which also acts as a data advocacy device. I am very happy to be a part of it.
The latest edition of the Youth Development Index (YDI) has the status of youth development in 181 countries. This is a comprehensive indicator of the 27 indicators that measure the development of youth in the 6 domains tracked during 2010-2018: health and fitness, education, employment and opportunity, political and urban participation, equality and participation and peace and security. This year’s index shows progress in 5 out of 6 domains during the period.
As a global comparison device, YDI uses national level data. It compares the score between countries and regions, but does not provide insights on youth development or inequality in any country. It does not measure every aspect of youth development – instead focuses on a basic set of indicators that expert literature has greatly affected development results for young people. There is a strong relationship between YDI and most SDGs – which means that countries that perform well on the development of youth also make more progress towards SDGs.
The 2020 report reveals that on average, youth growth is improving, though progress is slow. Between 2010 and 2018, the global average youth growth score has increased 3.1 %, with 5 of the 6 domains involved in the period. Similarly, 156 of the 181 countries included in the index (86 %) improved their score. There was a high level of youth development in Singapore and Chad was the lowest.
Regarding significant achievements, Asia has recorded collectively in the overall index as well as in the education domain, South Asia has seen the most important improvement in the past decade. This regional development is especially driven by a few countries. The Singapore is the lead in the YDI table, and two of the five are the Commonwealth Asian countries – India and Bangladesh. The Commonwealth Secretariat celebrates the rapid development of young people in Asia, especially through education, an essential source of empowerment and movement of youth.
Regarding education, the average score of 3 % improved during this period, which is driven by a 5.3 % improvement in the completion rates of the secondary school and 2.4 % improvement in literacy rates. With a 16.13 % improvement in the regional average, South Asia recorded the biggest improvement in the education domain. All the Sahara Africa also made significant progress, which was improved by about 10 %.
At the same time, it is estimated that only 38 % of young people can be considered “digital local” based on the use of five or more years of Internet. Yet the evidence in this area is still inadequate. In addition to the lack of time series data on digital locals, there is also a lack of other data to measure young people’s more comprehensive capabilities and online engagement.
Although we recognize the victory, it is important that we take serious investigations into the domains in which countries are lagging behind. Particularly frustrating political and urban participation, which roams the lower levels. The 2018 score in the Commonwealth Asia region was less than global (0.282) and the global wealth (0.309) average score.
North America described the largest regional average decline in political and urban participation as 17 %. North America – Both Canada and the United States – during the decades, 26 and 12 percent, respectively. Russia and Eurasia followed North America with 12.2 percent deterioration. Single digits decreased in South Asia, Mina, South America and Central America and Caribbean. On the contrary, all Sahara Africa recorded about 5 % improvement in Asia and gained minor benefits. Of the 31 rules of Sahara Africa, Madagascar improved the most, followed by Kenya, Sierra Leone, Kot de Ivar and Kamoros.
These figures are reminded that the youth of the Commonwealth is more than 60 % of the young population under the age of 30 and cannot be lagging behind in any level of society. Governments have to commit maximum support and investment in youth participation. Young people around the world must be included in a comprehensive and comprehensive manner, not as a to a toter, as all SDG goals directly affect us all. I urge government leaders, policy makers and civil society not only to prevent the talent, passion, abilities and happiness of the youth, but also to be organized and embedded in organizations. Including young people in all six domains in YDI is important for us to reach our agenda 2030 and provide national and global goals.
I started in my role as a representative of the Advisory Board’s new youth for the GEM report at the end of June this year and has already tried to use my experience as a young educational and education lawyer, as well as reporting the report of the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Global Students for the Global Students for the Global Report. In its recommendations, the index further emphasizes governments to improve education data collection and make it diversified how they measure digital skills and youth online engagement, all fields that will be included in the 2023 GEM report on technology and education.
The young people are now more connected and standing united to accelerate progress on all aspects of YDI and work to take charge of our future. Empowering youth should be a priority for all countries. As we pledge our dedication and partnership, we look forward to your promise to create a common future for us and create a capable environmental system for us.
