While the overall condition of the worlds young people is improving, those living in poor nations still face serious challenges in realizing their full potential, the United Nations reported on Tuesday.
Of the worlds 1,1 billion young people between the ages of 15 and 24, 85 percent live in developing countries and just 15 percent in wealthy industrialized nations, according to the first UN “World Youth Report.”
About 22 percent of them survived on less than a dollar a day in 2000, the last year for which figures were available, the report said.
– While youth over time are doing much better, we cannot average the global situation and forget about all those in the many developing countries, John Scholvinck of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs said.
Young people in the developing world are finding it particularly difficult to obtain the tools they need to reach their potential because they lack education and jobs are in short supply, he said.
Better educational opportunities and stronger economic growth are among the remedies for young peoples problems, according to the report.
While young people make up 18 percent of the total global population of about 6,1 billion, they account for 40 percent of the unemployed, and youth joblessness around the globe rose by 8 million between 1995 and 1999, the report said.
While youths in some parts of the world have an unprecedented knowledge of the world around them, 133 million are illiterate, it found. Just 25 percent of young sub-Saharan Africans, 40 percent to 57 percent of South Asian youths and 62 percent to 67 percent of young people from the Middle East and North Africa are enrolled in secondary schools. Many of the illiterate youths will grow into illiterate adults, finding it more and more difficult to find a job.
The report also identified AIDS as a major problem “that has transformed the lives of children and youth all over the world.”
An average of between 6.000 and 7.000 young people become infected with HIV every day, with a total of 11,8 million living with HIV/AIDS, most in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the report.
The prevalence of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is “relatively low” in Central Asia and Eastern Europe, the report said, but those regions are experiencing the fastest-growing rate of infection worldwide.
The report singled out 111 armed conflicts reported between 1989 and 2000 as stunting the development of youth in war torn countries, especially in Africa. Two million children have died, 6 million disabled, mainly through mutilation and land mine explosions, and 12 million left homeless because of the fighting, it said.
The report called for more programs to prevent AIDS and drugs use and greater involvement of youth in decision-making. “Young people can be dynamic agents of social change, taking an active role in combating these problems, but they must be given the right tools to work with,” the report said.
It also called for an old-fashioned approach to dealings between parents and young adults, saying parents need to overcome social taboos and personal discomfort to talk to their youngsters.
The report was following up on an action program adopted by the United Nations in 1995 and a subsequent expert meeting in Helsinki, Finland, in 2002.
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