Close to half of global youth population considers education, skills and employment as pathways to a secure future, an interim report of a survey by Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health shows.
It says 40 per cent of 713,273 respondents aged between 10-24 years hold this belief.
The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH) is a global alliance for the health and well-being of women, children and adolescents, hosted by the World Health Organization.
It released the interim survey results on the eve of UN International Youth Day on August 12, 2023.
The survey outreach focused on low- and middle income countries to ensure voices less often heard are prioritised.
More than two-thirds (68.8 per cent) of respondents were from Africa followed by South-East Asia region at 27.5 per cent and a small minority from Latin America.
India constituted the largest population of respondents, comprising 17.2 per cent of entire sample group.
Uganda had the second largest represented country, accounting for 12 per cent followed by Indonesia at 10.2 per cent and Zambia at 8.4 per cent.
Young people were asked to express, in their own words, what they want most for their own well-being.
"What Young People Want has empowered us to break the silence and raise our voices for a better future," Saksham Parimal, a 22-year old mobiliser for the 1.8 billion Young People for Change campaign in India said.
"We no longer feel unheard or overlooked. This campaign has given us the platform to demand action on issues that matter to us and our community. We are the architects of our future, and with What Young People Want, our dreams are turning into reality," he added.
Top interests for the respondents included reflecting a strong interest in job stability, financial and material security and independence at 40.5 per cent.
This result was reflected across all age groups particularly among those aged 15-19 (47.2 per cent) and among adolescent girls (49.2 per cent), who frequently cited the need for “learning opportunities” and “quality education”.
The report revealed that young people in low-and middle-income countries have been among the most affected in an increasingly fragile world facing pandemic disruptions to school-based learning, household food insecurity and income scarcity, rising mental health concerns, the cost-of-living crisis and the deepening impact of climate change.
Additionally, the other common needs and concerns expressed by young people included safety and a supportive environment (cited by 21.2 per cent overall) and good health and optimum nutrition (16.3 per cent).
The youngest respondents had specific concerns where 11 per cent of those aged 15-19 cited safety and a supportive environment.
That concern was cited by 8.4 per cent of those aged 20-24, and 1.8 per cent of those aged 10-14.
Adolescent boys cited clean water and good roads, while adolescent girls cited free sanitary pads in addition to clean water.
Overall, nearly half of the respondents (47.2 per cent) fell within the age bracket of 15 to 19, comprising 25.7 per cent girls and 21.5 per cent boys.
The average age of the respondents was 16 years, accounting for 13 per cent of total respondents.
The youngest group of adolescents (10-year olds) was the least represented at 1.2 per cent, while the oldest group of adolescents and youth aged 24 years accounted for 7.3 per cent of the respondents.
Approximately 1 per cent of the respondents identified as transmen, transwomen, gender-fluid, two-spirit, nonbinary, agender, other, or preferred not to say their gender.
Survey methodology
The survey methodology was based on a simple yet powerful question: “To improve my well-being, I want ...".
The most frequently occurring words given by respondents included ‘education’, ‘health’ ‘school’, ‘opportunity’, ‘job’ and ‘access’.
The most frequent phrases chosen included ‘mental health’, ‘good health’, ‘good education’, ‘reproductive health education’, ‘learning opportunity’ and ‘job opportunity’.
The survey used both digital technology and face-to-face interviews through teams of trained youth mobilisers to collect responses.
A WhatsApp-based chatbot was also used. It allowed smartphone users to quickly and easily register their responses by scanning a QR code.
Non-smartphone users with little or no technology access registered their responses through 1.8 million campaign youth mobilisers active at community level in more than 20 participating countries in Africa including Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi, Ghana and in Asia and Latin America, India and Indonesia.
Once data was entered, an algorithm rapidly assessed and classified each response into one of five major domains informed by a conceptual framework on adolescent well-being developed by UN agencies with PMNCH.
