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Frequently Asked Questions about United Nations |
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What does the UN mean by "youth," and how does
this definition differ from that given to
children?
- How many youth are there in the
world today?
- Where do the world’s young
people live?
- Has the United Nations adopted
any declarations, conventions and covenants
concerning youth?
- What does the UN identify as
priority youth issues?
- What do all the UN agencies
actually do in the area of youth?
- Can I work at the Programme on
Youth?
- Can I partner with the United
Nations Programme on Youth?
- Where can I find funding for my
project/programme?
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What does the UN mean by "youth," and how does this
definition
differ from that given to children? |
The United Nations, for statistical purposes,
defines ‘youth’, as those persons between the
ages of 15 and 24 years, without prejudice to
other definitions by Member States. This
definition was made during preparations for the
International Youth Year (1985), and endorsed by
the General Assembly (see A/36/215 and
resolution 36/28, 1981). All United Nations
statistics on youth are based on this
definition, as illustrated by the annual
yearbooks of statistics published by the United
Nations system on demography, education,
employment and health.
By that definition, therefore, children are
those persons under the age of 14. It is,
however, worth noting that Article 1 of the
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the
Child defines ‘children’ as persons up to the
age of 18. This was intentional, as it was hoped
that the Convention would provide protection and
rights to as large an age-group as possible and
because there was no similar United Nations
Convention on the Rights of Youth.
Many countries also draw a line on youth at the
age at which a person is given equal treatment
under the law – often referred to as the "age of
majority’. This age is often 18 in many
countries, and once a person passes this age,
they are considered to be an adult. However, the
operational definition and nuances of the term
‘youth’ often vary from country to country,
depending on the specific socio-cultural,
institutional, economic and political factors.
Within the category of "youth", it is also
important to distinguish between teenagers
(13-19) and young adults (20-24), since the
sociological, psychological and health problems
they face may differ.
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How many youth are there in the world today?
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Approximately one billion youth live in the
world today. This means that approximately one
person in five is between the age of 15 and 24
years, or 18% of the world’s population are
"youth", and children (5-14 years) comprise of
19.8%.
As you can see from the table, it is interesting
to note that despite an increase in absolute
numbers, the proportion of young people in the
world is actually dwindling! This means that the
number of young people in the world between 1980
and 1995 has dropped as a proportion of the
total population. In fact, during the 1990s, the
annual growth rates among the world’s youth
population have slowed down in every region of
the world except Africa.
|
Year |
Youth Population |
Percentage of Total Global Population |
|
1985 |
941 million |
19.4% |
|
1995 |
1.019 billion |
18.0% |
|
2025 |
1.222 billion |
15.4% |
Youth World
Population 1985-2025
Source: World Population Projection.
2000 Revision, United Nations Population
Division .
The blue line represents the growth of the youth
population in absolute numbers, and the orange
line represents the percentage of youth in the
total world population.
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Where does the world’s youth live? |
The majority (almost 85%) of the world’s youth
live in developing countries, with approximately
60 percent in Asia alone. A remaining 23 percent
live in the developing regions of Africa, and
Latin America and the Caribbean. By 2025, the
number of youth living in developing countries
will grow to 89.5%. Therefore, it is necessary
to take youth issues into considerations in the
development agenda and policies of each country.
Despite mass urbanization, the majority of youth
live in rural areas in sub-Saharan Africa,
south-eastern and south-central Asia and
Oceania.
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Youth population: 525 million young men and 500
million young women
.
Youth illiteracy in the developing countries: 57
million young men and 96 million young women.
Regional Distribution of youth, 2005
|
|
Total population
(millions) |
Youth
population
(percentage) |
Youth(15-24)
(millions) |
Global youth
population
(percentage) |
|
Asia |
3,905 |
16.4 |
639 |
62.4 |
|
Africa |
905 |
15.9 |
145 |
14.1 |
|
Europe |
728 |
14.3 |
103 |
10.2 |
|
Latin
America & the Caribbean |
561 |
16.9 |
95 |
9.3 |
|
Northern
America |
330 |
12.4 |
41 |
4.0 |
|
Oceania |
33 |
3.0 |
1 |
0.1 |
|
Total |
6,465 |
15.8 |
1,024 |
100.0% |
Source:
World Population Prospects, 2006
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Has the United Nations adopted any declarations, conventions
and covenants concerning youth? |
Certainly! The following are some examples of
how the United Nations system has worked to
adopt various instruments and recommendations
that deal with youth rights and the protection
of youth:
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Contents of Conventions,
Covenants, Recommendations |
Date |
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Universal Declaration of Human Rights |
1948 |
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Declaration on the Promotion among Youth
of the Ideals of Peace, Mutual Respect
and Understanding between Peoples |
1965 |
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International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights |
1966 |
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International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights |
1966 |
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The Convention on the Rights of the
Child |
1979 |
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The Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination Against Women |
1979 |
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United Nations Guidelines for Further
Planning and Follow-Up in the Field of
Youth |
1985 |
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United Nations Standard Minimum Rules
for the Administration of Juvenile
Justice (The Beijing Rules) |
1985 |
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Declaration on the Right to Development |
1986 |
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United Nations Rules for the Protection
of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty |
1990 |
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United Nations Guidelines for the
Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency (The
Riyadh Guidelines) |
1990 |
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The Rio Declaration on the Environment
and Development and Agenda 21 |
1992 |
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The Vienna Declaration and Programme of
Action |
1993 |
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Programme of Action of the International
Conference on Population and Development |
1994 |
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Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of
Action of the World Summit for Social
Development |
1995 |
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World Programme of Action for Youth to
the Year 2000 and Beyond |
1995 |
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Platform for Action of the Fourth World
Conference on Women |
1995 |
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The Habitat Agenda and The Istanbul
Declaration of the Second United Nations
Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat
II) |
1996 |
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Rome Declaration on World Food Security
and World Food Summit Plan of Action of
the World Food Summit |
1996 |
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Braga Youth Action Plan |
1998 |
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Lisbon Declaration on Youth Policies and
Programmes |
1998 |
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ILO Declaration on Fundamental
Principles and Rights at Work |
1998 |
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Special Session on Social Development
(Copenhagen+5), Geneva |
2000 |
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Dakar Youth Empowerment Strategy |
2001 |
As you can see above, the United Nations has
adopted several Declarations and Programmes of
Action at the various world conferences it held
throughout the early 1990’s. Many of these make
specific references to youth and the rights they
should be afforded.
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What does the UN identify as priority youth issues? |
Among other youth-related issues, the
World Programme of Action for Youth to the Year
2000 and Beyond identifies the
following ten issues that should be of the
highest priority to Governments.
1. Education
2. Employment
3. Hunger and poverty
4. Health
5. Environment
6. Drug abuse
7. Juvenile delinquency
8. Leisure-time activities
9. Girls and young women
10. Full and effective participation of
youth in the life of society and in
decision-making
Five new issues were identified in the World
Youth Report 2003 that have now been adopted by
the General Assembly:
1. Globalization
2. Information and Communication
Technologies
3. HIV/AIDS
4. Youth and Conflict
5. Intergenerational Relations
If
you want to read more about these issues, click
here.
The
Library section on this website,
contains the World Youth Reports, as well as UN
documents in all official UN languages.
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What do all the UN agencies actually do in the area of
youth? |
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Can I work at the Programme on Youth? |
The UN Programme on Youth is unfortunately
unable to offer you a job. You can find out more
about gaining employment at the United Nations
at the
Office of Human Resource Management.
From time to time the Unit accepts interns
through the UN headquarters internship programme
- more information can be found on our
internships page.
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Can I partner
with the United Nations Programme on Youth? |
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The
Programme on Youth is part of the United Nations
Secretariat. Our main task is to assist the General
Assembly in setting priorities and developing
policies towards youth development. We don't have
funding to assist youth organizations, nor do we
have country offices to facilitate direct support.
We do
work together sometimes with youth organizations in
certain projects. One example is via the toolkit
"Making Commitments Matter", which is drafted to
encourage young people to become involved in the
review of the World Programme of Action for youth
(global youth policy document) by the General
Assembly in 2005. You can download this toolkit for
free (in English/ French/Spanish/Portuguese) from
our web site.
If you
wish to formalize your relationship with the United
Nations, you can apply for consultative status with
the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
International, regional and national youth and
student organizations in consultative status with
the UN (ECOSOC) are able to make oral statements and
submit written statements on items on the agenda of
ECOSOC meetings. ECOSOC is the only body of the
United Nations that has a continuing mechanism to
accredit NGOs a consultative status. Several United
Nations Agencies make use of this list when inviting
NGOs to participate in their meetings. You can read
more about the procedure to request for consultative
status with ECOSOC at:
http://www.un.org/esa/coordination/ngo/
If you
wish to receive more news about the youth agenda of
the United Nations, you can subscribe to our free
information service called Youth Flash (in English
only). You can subscribe via our website or by
sending an email with 'subscribe' as the subject
line to
youth@un.org
To
find out more about our work, please refer to our
website:
http://www.un.org/youth
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Where can I
find funding for my project/programme? |
The Programme on Youth does not provide funding
for projects and programmes. However, there are
a few opportunities for applying for funding
within the United Nations System.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
has a
Small Grants Programme
which
may be of interest to some youth organisations
concerned with sustainable development.
Established in 1992, the year of the Rio Earth
Summit, The GEF Small Grants Programme [SGP]
embodies the very essence of sustainable
development. By providing financial and
technical support to projects in developing
countries that conserve and restore the natural
world while enhancing well-being and
livelihoods, SGP demonstrates that community
action can maintain the fine balance between
human needs and environmental imperatives. SGP
links global, national and local-level issues
through a transparent, participatory and
country-driven approach to project planning,
design and implementation. Grants are made
directly to non-governmental organizations
[NGOs] and community-based organizations [CBOs]
in recognition of the key role they play as a
resource and constituency for environment and
development concerns. Though SGP grants are
small, their impact is large. More than 3000
projects in 63 countries have addressed adverse
environmental changes and enriched the lives of
tens of thousands of people, in Africa, Arab
States, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Latin
America and the Caribbean.
Youth organisations located in LDCs, with a
development focus, might be interested in the
United Nations
Capital Development Fund,
which is a UNDP partner and works to reduce
poverty in Least Developed Countries through a
variety of innovative approaches in both local
governance and microfinance initiatives.
In
addition, a number of NGOs and other
organisations may be able to assist with
funding: Peace Child International
(www.peacechild.org)*
assist with funding for many youth projects.
For youth organisations led by females, the
Global Fund for Women
(www.globalfundforwomen.org)*
supports organizations which demonstrate a clear
commitment to women's equality and female human
rights; show concern about the way women are
viewed and view themselves in society; are
governed and directed by women; consist of a
group of women working together; and are based
outside of the United States.
For US-based youth projects, the National 4-H
Council has a
Youth Grants Program*
which offers grants for youth in local
communities, in counties, and on the state
level. These grants provide opportunities for
young people and adults to take action on issues
critical to their lives, their families, and
their communities. Youth take the lead in the
design of the project, the proposal writing
process, the implementation, and the evaluation
of funded projects.
There are many other organisations which support
youth-related projects and initiatives. One way
of finding them is by looking in search engines,
such as
Google.*
*
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