Barbados ranks the highest in Central America and the Caribbean on the 2020 Youth Development Index which assesses the state of young people between 2010 and 2018.
Barbados is 47th overall with a score of 0.779. Costa Rica is 59th at 0.750, followed by Cuba (0.744) at 63, Grenada at 66 with 0.736, Jamaica with 0.724 at 75 and St Lucia at 80 with 0.716. Completing the list from the Caribbean at 101, 104 and 125 respectively are Trinidad and Tobago (0.674), The Bahamas (0.670) and Guyana at 0.617.
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 shows that the conditions of young people improved around the world by 3.1 per cent between 2010 and 2018, but progress remains slow.
The Commonwealth Secretariat on Tuesday released its triennial rankings of youth development in 181 countries, with 156 of them recording at least slight improvements in their scores.
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.
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.
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.
Speaking before the release, Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland QC 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.”
She added: “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.
“As we work to recover and rebuild from the many consequences of the pandemic, we need to draw as fully as possible on the energy and idealism of youth so that fresh opportunities for social, economic and political development are opened up with present and future generations of young people equipped and empowered to fulfil their potential.”
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. (PR/SAT)
