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MEDIA CENTER 86 Percent of the World's Young People Live in Developing Countries NEW YORK (26 May 2005) A review of educational trends is a revealing indication of the future because school is the most transforming agent in society after the family. The numbers show that young people in the developing world are now more likely to attend school as adolescents and postpone entering the labor force. But there remain large differences in school attendance rates according to wealth and residential status, with poor girls being particularly shortchanged. In addition, results from recent internationally comparable standardized tests raise serious concerns about how much students are actually learning. Though global trends in population, health, urbanization, and education have contributed positively to the demand for education, many schools are of poor quality, thus limiting enrollment, encouraging dropout, and compromising learning. Growing Up Global reports that, on average, this generation is healthier and has an improved chance of surviving to old age, compared to the same age group 20 years ago. But HIV/AIDS has had a hugely negative impact on young people, most notably in sub-Saharan Africa, where the disease is now the leading cause of death for 15–29-year-olds. Young females’ death rates exceed those of males, meaning that more young women than young men die of AIDS in that region. As a result, the panel concluded that unprotected sex is one of the riskiest behaviors that young people can undertake. Simultaneously, tobacco use is increasing throughout the developing world, and the gender gap in smoking prevalence is rapidly closing. There is also evidence that illicit drug use among young people is rising, and alcohol use is expected to go up. Lloyd and her colleagues also observed that even marked improvement in some areas is sometimes insufficient to fully overcome gross injustices. Twenty years ago 52 percent of young women in the developing world were married before the age of 18. This practice has been recognized as a human rights violation by international conventions. Though this proportion has decreased to 38 percent today, this statistic masks grave problems for a vast group of young women. In spite of changing traditions, nearly four of ten girls in developing countries are or can expect to be married before they turn 18. Poverty is the greatest barrier to making a successful transition to adulthood. As a percentage of the population, poverty rates have declined worldwide, except in sub-Saharan Africa. But as a result of rapid population growth, the number of young people living in poor families is roughly the same as it was ten years ago—325 million. There are more young people surviving on one dollar a day than there are people living in the United States, where the current population is 300 million. Other notable findings about developing-world youth from Growing Up Global include:
The challenges to achieving a successful passage to adulthood are significant. But the Growing Up Global panel concludes that substantial investments in the health and schooling of young people, if designed and targeted effectively, will position young women and men to participate constructively in shaping their own and their countries’ futures. The experts also call for interventions that promote gender equity in citizenship, work, marriage, parenthood, and across all social classes. Lloyd and other Population Council researchers have concentrated on adolescents since the early 1990s. The Council is committed to broadening adolescent policy research from a narrow focus on sexuality and reproductive health to one that encompasses the social and economic issues that underpin adolescent health. In addition to Cynthia Lloyd, senior Council staff members Barbara Mensch and Shireen Jejeebhoy were members of the expert panel. The National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine are private, nonprofit institutions that provide science and health policy advice under a congressional charter. The National Research Council is the principal operating arm of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. For additional information: http://www.nas.edu/.
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