India ranks 122nd on Global Youth Development Index

INDIA ranked 122^nd on a new Global Youth Development Index that measures the condition of young people across 181 countries.

"The top five risers from 2010 to 2018 were Afghanistan, India, Russia, Ethiopia and Burkina Faso,” says the ‘2020 Global Youth Development Index' released by the Commonwealth Secretariat in London on Tuesday (10).

Singapore ranked topmost followed by Slovenia, Norway, Malta and Denmark, while Chad, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Afghanistan and Niger came last, respectively.

Commonwealth secretary-general Baroness Patricia Scotland said: "Young people are indispensable to delivering a future that is more just, inclusive, sustainable and resilient. By measuring their contributions and needs with hard data, our advocacy for their development becomes more powerful, and we are then able incrementally to increase the positive impact and benefits youth are able to add towards building a better future for us all.

"Our Youth Development Index is a vital tool which has already significantly enhanced our capacity to assess the extent to which youth are engaged to contribute beneficially in their societies, and empowered by enabling policies and tools."

The index ranks countries between 0.00 (lowest) and 1.00 (highest) according to the developments in youth education, employment, health, equality and inclusion, peace and security, and political and civic participation.

It analyses 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.

"While the data used to compile the index was gathered before the Covid-19 pandemic, the findings indicate where progress was being achieved and where it was not, and that urgent action is now needed so that pre-pandemic gains are not lost but sustained and developed further, more broadly and more inclusively,” added Baroness Scotland.

The index revealed that health made the largest gains of 4.39 per cent driven by a 1.6 per cent decline in global youth mortality rates and a 2 per cent drop in HIV, self-harm, alcohol abuse and tobacco use.

Levels of underemployed youth and those not in school, training or work remained constant.

However, the index found no progress in women's safety.

The global education score increased by 3 per cent, with South Asia making the largest improvement of 16 per cent.

Peace and security improved by 3.41 per cent, resulting from fewer young people dying from direct violence. Somalia recorded the largest gains in the peace and security of young people, followed by Colombia, Sri Lanka, Eritrea and Russia.