Cyprus ranks 18th on 181-strong Global Youth Development Index

Cyprus is ranked 18th on the 2020 Global Youth Development Index released by the Commonwealth Secretariat. The platform measures the status of young people in 181 countries around the world.

The index was released to coincide with international youth day which is marked annually on August 12.

According to the Index Cyprus ranks 41st in education, 22nd in employment and opportunity, 28th in equality and inclusion, 16th in health and wellbeing, 41st in peace and security and 88th in Political and Civil participation.

The index ranks countries between 0.00 (lowest) and 1.00 (highest) according to positive or negative changes in youth education, employment, health, equality and inclusion, peace and security, and political and civic participation. It looks at 27 indicators including literacy and voting to showcase the state of the world’s 1.8 billion people between the age of 15 and 29.

Cyprus overall score has improved to 0.825 in 2018 from 0.822 in 2010.

The index further reveals that the conditions of young people have improved around the world by 3.1 per cent between 2010 and 2018, but progress remains slow.

While the data used in the index pre-dates COVID-19, the report highlights the positive trajectory of youth development which the virus could reverse for the first time unless urgent action is taken to secure the pre-pandemic gains.

In 2020 Singapore ranked top for the first time followed by Slovenia, Norway, Malta and Denmark. Chad, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Afghanistan and Niger came last respectively.

Afghanistan, India, Russia, Ethiopia and Burkina Faso were the top five improvers, advancing their score, on average, by 15.74 per cent. On the other hand, Syria, Ukraine, Libya, Jordan and Lebanon showed the greatest decline in youth development between 2010 and 2018.

Global trends

Overall, the index shows advances in youth’s participation in peace processes and their education, employment, inclusion and health care since 2010.

Globally, Sweden leads on education, Luxembourg on equality and inclusion, Indonesia on political and civic participation while Singapore tops the employment, health, and peace and security domains.

Recommendations

Among its recommendations, the index calls for more investment in lifelong digital skilling of young people, mental health services, apprenticeships, road safety and youth participation in decision-making to reverse trends which adversely impact them.

It further urges governments to improve data collection on education and diversify how they measure digital skills and online engagement of youth.