Business

The best and worst countries for young people in the world

Staff Writer

 ·29 Oct 2016

While South Africa remains a country with bleak prospects for its youth – things have shown significant improvement over the past 5 years, the latest Global Youth Development Index (YDI) shows.

Across the world, young people are being negatively affected by the slowing global economy, which is making access to jobs, education and healthcare increasingly more difficult – particularly in emerging economies.

The world has a youth population of an estimated 1.8 billion people – 90% of which live in developing nations, where they make up almost a third of the population.

The YDI, compiled by The Commonwealth Secretariat, measures the progress and development of youth (aged 15 – 29) across the globe, looking at 18 indicators across five categories, including health, opportunity and social engagement.

Reflecting the divisions between the developed and developing world, the top spots on the index are dominated by European nations, with strong economies and access to quality healthcare and education.

Germany is ranked as the best country in the world for youth, followed by Denmark, Australia, Switzerland and the UK. At the bottom of the pile, however, you find may African and Sub-Saharan African nations, with Central African Republic ranked as the worst place for youth, below Chad, Cote d’Ivoire and Niger.

Overall, South Africa ranked 126th out of 183 countries on the index, tying with nations such as Palestine, Algeria and Papua New Guinea.

Best and worst countries for youth

South Africa’s performance in the index is detailed below (ranked out of 183):

• Health and Well-being – 179th
• Education – 93rd
• Employment and Opportunity – 110th
• Civic Participation – 19th
• Political Participation – 3rd
• Overall Rank – 126th

Despite its global positioning in the lower reaches of the index, things are improving: South Africa was the second biggest gainer in 2016, beaten only by Kenya, the report showed.

South Africa’s YDI score recorded 20% progress between 2010 and 2015, making it the second biggest improver in the world, the report said.

Gains were the largest in the domains of Civic Participation, Political Participation and Health and Well being, respectively.

However, despite making significant progress in the Health and Well-being domain, it remains a problem area for South Africa.

The country continues to perform very poorly in this domain, with a score well below the Sub-Saharan African and global average, having ranked 5th worst in the world for its quality and levels of access to healthcare.

“This is explained by the country’s high youth mortality rates and high HIV prevalence among young people, especially females. The prevalence of HIV is nearly twice as high in young females as in young males,” the report said.

On the other end of the scale, South African youth are the third most politically active in the world, where the country encourages and supports political participation, and getting youth involved in decision making.

More on youth

It’s not only rich South Africans who are leaving the country – young educated ones are too

Class and race shape how young South Africans access the job market

Youth Day: 40 years on, South Africa still struggles with violent policing