As the global community works toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, too many

young people remain disconnected from vital skills, economic opportunities, local communities,

and national governments. Investment in youth is urgently needed at this moment in history when

half the world’s population is under 30.

The 2017 Global Youth Wellbeing Index includes 30 countries selected based on population size, data availability, income level, and regional distribution.1 They are home to almost 70 percent of the 1.8 billion young people ages 15 to 29 worldwide. To give voice to that generation of citizens, the 2017 Index incorporates youth perceptions data collected through the International Youth Foundation’s Global Millennial Viewpoints Survey. The Index addresses seven of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

2017

Global Youth Wellbeing IndexExecutive Summary

In partnership with

www.youthindex.org#2017YouthIndex / #PrioritizeYouth

INDIA

UNITED STATES

MEXICO

COLOMBIA

PERU TANZANIA¹

UGANDAGHANA

NIGERIA

MOROCCO

SPAIN

UNITED KINGDOM

SWEDEN

GERMANY

TURKEY

JORDAN

RUSSIA

CHINA

INDONESIA

PHILIPPINES

SOUTH KOREA

JAPAN

AUSTRALIA

VIETNAM

THAILAND

EGYPT

SAUDI ARABIA

KENYASOUTH AFRICA

BRAZIL

1. YOUTH WELLBEING IS IMPROVING SLOWLY. Using the same set of indicators as the 2014 Index and updating data where available, youth wellbeing in all Index countries improved by an average of 2 percent.

3. YOUTH HAVE THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF WELLBEING IN THE EDUCATION DOMAIN; HOWEVER, NOT ENOUGH YOUNG PEOPLE ARE GETTING THE PREPARATION THEY NEED TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN WORK AND LIFE.Across Index countries, youth are doing best in the education domain, likely because of sustained government and donor investments in education over the last 30 years. At the same time, a pau-city of data makes it very difficult to consistently and accurately measure educational quality.

2. ONLY 11 PERCENT OF YOUTH IN INDEX COUNTRIES ARE EXPERIENCING HIGH LEVELS OF WELLBEING.Sweden, Australia, United Kingdom, Germany, United States, Spain, Japan, and South Korea have high levels of wellbeing, defined as the top third of scores in the range for overall wellbeing.

4. ALTHOUGH YOUNG PEOPLE EXPRESS OPTIMISM ABOUT THEIR ECONOMIC FUTURES, INDEX COUNTRIES HAD THE LOWEST OVERALL SCORES IN ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY.Seventy-four percent of youth surveyed across Index countries feel they will be able to get the kind of job they want, and 65 percent feel they will be able to make as much money as they want. High rates of youth who are not in employment, education, or training (NEETs) in many Index countries explain the discouraging domain score.

The Global Youth Wellbeing Index includes 35 indicators across seven domains:

Gender Equality

Economic Opportunity

Education Health Safety & Security

Information & Communication

Technology

Citizen Participation

Top Findings

2%11%

2017 Global Youth Wellbeing Index

5. THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF YOUNG PEOPLE SURVEYED SUPPORT EQUALITY BETWEEN WOMEN AND MEN.Almost 90 percent of youth surveyed by IYF agreed with the statement “Women should have all the same rights as men.” While young people are ready for gender equality, objective data suggests that equality remains elusive.

9. YOUNG PEOPLE ARE USING PHONES RATHER THAN COMPUTERS.Youth in the least developed countries lack robust internet access through computers; they rely on their phones to get information. Less than half of youth have access to the internet at home, but on average every person in an Index country has 1.2 cell phone accounts.

8. TOO MANY YOUNG PEOPLE SURVEYED FEEL THAT THEIR GOVERNMENT DOES NOT CARE ABOUT THEM.IYF’s Global Millennial Viewpoints Survey revealed that 2 out of 3 youth believe that their government does not care about their wants and needs.

10. MILLIONS OF YOUNG PEOPLE, MOST OF THEM MEN, ARE USING TOBACCO.The World Health Organization estimates that in 2015 over 1.1 billion people worldwide—including far more men than women—used tobacco products. Although tobacco use is declining worldwide, in half of Index countries 20 percent or more of youth are smoking or chewing tobacco products.

6. YOUNG PEOPLE URGENTLY NEED BETTER ACCESS TO MENTAL HEALTH CARE.More than half of youth participating in IYF’s Global Millennial Viewpoints Survey said the way they feel gets in the way of school, a job, or life. Half felt that their lives are too stressful. Many Index countries see persistently high rates of youth suicide.

7. ROAD-RELATED ACCIDENTS REMAIN THE LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH FOR YOUTH WORLDWIDE.Over a 25-year period from 1990 to 2015, Index countries have reduced youth road-related fatal-ities by only 21 percent. Middle-income countries account for 90 percent of traffic-related deaths.

1.2

Executive Summary

1 Due to regulations issued by the Government of Tanzania, which require that all datasets and research regarding the country be submitted for approval to the National Bureau of Statistics, results for Tanzania are not included in the Index presentations. However, data for Tanzania remains in the Index computations to maintain accurate results for all countries.

Scores by Country Color KeyHIGH YOUTH WELLBEING

MEDIUM YOUTH WELLBEING

LOW YOUTH WELLBEING

0.0 0.5 1.0

Information & Communication TechnologyCitizen Participation

Safety & SecurityHealth

EducationEconomic Opportunity

Gender EqualityOverall Score

1. SWEDEN

ICTCP

S & SHealth

Edu.Econ.

GenderOverall

ICTCP

S & SHealth

Edu.Econ.

GenderOverall

ICTCP

S & SHealth

Edu.Econ.

GenderOverall

2. AUSTRALIA 3. UNITED KINGDOM 4. GERMANY

0.83 0.81 0.80 0.78

ICTCP

S & SHealth

Edu.Econ.

GenderOverall

ICTCP

S & SHealth

Edu.Econ.

GenderOverall

ICTCP

S & SHealth

Edu.Econ.

GenderOverall

ICTCP

S & SHealth

Edu.Econ.

GenderOverall

ICTCP

S & SHealth

Edu.Econ.

GenderOverall

17. COLOMBIA 18. PHILIPPINES 19. KENYA15. JORDAN 16. MOROCCO

0.570.570.570.570.57

ICTCP

S & SHealth

Edu.Econ.

GenderOverall

ICTCP

S & SHealth

Edu.Econ.

GenderOverall

ICTCP

S & SHealth

Edu.Econ.

GenderOverall

ICTCP

S & SHealth

Edu.Econ.

GenderOverall

ICTCP

S & SHealth

Edu.Econ.

GenderOverall

12. SAUDI ARABIA 13. MEXICO 14. GHANA10. INDONESIA 11. PERU

0.600.600.610.620.62

ICTCP

S & SHealth

Edu.Econ.

GenderOverall

ICTCP

S & SHealth

Edu.Econ.

GenderOverall

ICTCP

S & SHealth

Edu.Econ.

GenderOverall

ICTCP

S & SHealth

Edu.Econ.

GenderOverall

ICTCP

S & SHealth

Edu.Econ.

GenderOverall

27. UGANDA 28. EGYPT25. VIETNAM 26. INDIA 29. NIGERIA0.52 0.52 0.49 0.47 0.39

The chart below includes overall and domain scores for each country featured in the Index. Countries are listed in order of their overall performance, and Sweden ranks first, with a score of 0.83 out of 1.0.

ICTCP

S & SHealth

Edu.Econ.

GenderOverall

ICTCP

S & SHealth

Edu.Econ.

GenderOverall

ICTCP

S & SHealth

Edu.Econ.

GenderOverall

ICTCP

S & SHealth

Edu.Econ.

GenderOverall

ICTCP

S & SHealth

Edu.Econ.

GenderOverall

7. JAPAN 8. SOUTH KOREA 9. CHINA5. UNITED STATES 6. SPAIN

0.73 0.73 0.72 0.70 0.63

ICTCP

S & SHealth

Edu.Econ.

GenderOverall

ICTCP

S & SHealth

Edu.Econ.

GenderOverall

ICTCP

S & SHealth

Edu.Econ.

GenderOverall

ICTCP

S & SHealth

Edu.Econ.

GenderOverall

ICTCP

S & SHealth

Edu.Econ.

GenderOverall

22. SOUTH AFRICA 23. RUSSIA20. TURKEY 21. BRAZIL 24. THAILAND0.57 0.57 0.56 0.56 0.55