[afro-nets] The World's Youth - 2006 Data Sheet

[Claudio Schuftan <claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn>]

The World's Youth - 2006 Data Sheet
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From: Ruggiero, Mrs. Ana Lucia (WDC)

Lori Ashford, Donna Clifton, and Toshiko Kaneda
The Population Reference Bureau, 2006

Available online as PDF file [20 pp.] at:
http://www.prb.org/pdf06/WorldsYouth2006DataSheet.pdf

The datasheet, which provides a comprehensive portrait of the
well-being of youth (people ages 10-24) across the globe, shows
that many of these young people are at great risk for health
problems ranging from sexually transmitted infections to compli-
cations from smoking.

Just a minority of young people can correctly identify two ways
to avoid getting HIV/AIDS, and adolescents are less likely than
young adults worldwide to use contraceptives-including only 4
percent of women ages 15-19 in Burkina Faso and 14 percent in
Vietnam. Meanwhile, youth in developing countries continue to
use tobacco products at increasing rates: Approximately one in
every five males ages 13 to 15 in southern Africa, Central Amer-
ica, and Southeast Asia already smoke.

Youth 2006 Data Sheet contains indicators such as the current
and projected size of youth populations as well as measurements
of their educational enrollments, labor force participation,
marriage and fertility, health behaviors, and use of health ser-
vices. Some of its other findings include:

* More than one in every four persons in the world are youth.

* Nearly 70 percent of youth live in less developed countries.

* In these countries, the number of youth will continue to rise
for another 30 years, while in more developed countries, both
the proportion and number of  youth are projected to fall, cre-
ating a different set of economic and social challenges.


Copies are free of charge to those working in developing coun-
tries and can be requested by sending an email to
mailto:prborders@prb.org. Funding for the data sheet has been
provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development.