6 INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT YOUTH

6 INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT YOUTH

“Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.” 

― Franz Kafka

It is said that the world’s two most prized gifts are the love of a woman and the beauty of youth. While we always talk about women, today let’s take this opportunity to talk about youth. Youth is the most treasured trait that a person can have, without it a person can be 45 but feel like 85. Youth or young people around the globe are always treated as not only the “future” of humankind but also looked upon as the envied lot, as their energy levels are still at their peak.

So let’s take this time to learn a bit more about them:

1.    The definition varies from country to country.

According to the United Nations, “Youth” are the people who are of ages 15-24. However different countries have different definitions. In Nigeria youth are termed to be people between ages 18 and 35. In India, according to the National Youth Policy 2014, the people aged 15-29 are youth.

2.    Number of youth worldwide is potentially high.

The youth make up for more than 1.1 billion people, which is the nearly the population of India. The number of young people along with children makes up 40% of the world’s population as of 2015.

All the developing countries contain most of the world’s youth. India as of November 2014 contains 356 million people between the ages 10-24 years, about 28% of India’s population. China comes in second with 269 million, followed by Indonesia and US respectively.

3.    Youth are not being commemorated only on 12th August

While 12th August is International Youth Day, the youth are celebrated in different parts of the world on other days as well. Renowned Indian monk, Swami Vivekanda’s birthday (12th January) is celebrated as National Youth Day. Children’s Day is celebrated on 14th November in India.

In Singapore, Youth Day is celebrated on 2nd July. World Youth Day, held every 2-3 years will be held next at Panama city in 2019.

4.    Most of today’s unemployed people are Youth

In the world of today, unemployment is the one of the main issues that plagues us. However, did you know that the main section of society affected by this is the youth?

South Africa ranks on top as having the highest percentage of unemployed youth.

The causes of this include the mismatch in skills and effect of the digital divide.

More than 35% of homeless youth are under 24

According to known statistics, more than 35% of youth found around the globe are homeless. Nearly 80% decide to use alcohol and drugs as a form of self-medication.

Studies show that over 50% of the world’s population of homeless youth has been told by their parents to leave. About 40% of these youths are sexually abused every year.

5.    Being Young is NOT Enough Anymore

Being young and being youthful is not the same thing. Some companies do not want to keep the new youth; they want their own veterans, who are more experienced. Acceptability in employment is competitive with the rise in competition (rise in number of youth) by the passing day. The simultaneous increase in poverty and number of homeless youths with the increase in population adds salt to the fire.

The Youth are the building blocks, and the foundation of our society. No matter who it is and how much they have gained over the years, everyone wants to go back to their youth when they found it easier to do things, and had more basic worries. They need to be cared for more as a part of the change.

We should take it upon ourselves to treasure our youth. J