Global Youth Development Index: Nigeria ranks 161 out of 181
Nigeria is ranked 161st on the 2020 Global Youth Development Index which measures the status of young people in 181 countries around the world.
Singapore ranked top for the first time followed by Slovenia, Norway, Malta and Denmark, the report on Tuesday said.
Chad, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Afghanistan and Niger came last respectively.
The index further revealed that the conditions of young people have improved around the world by 3.1 per cent between 2010 and 2018, but progress remains slow.
The Commonwealth Secretariat on Wednesday 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.
Key highlights
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 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.
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.
Global trends
Overall, the index shows advances in youth’s participation in peace processes and their education, employment, inclusion and health care since 2010.
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 each HIV, self-harm, alcohol abuse and tobacco use.
Sub-Saharan Africa made the greatest strides in improving the health of young people.
Levels of underemployed youth and those not in school, training or work remained constant.
Advances in equality and inclusion are led by …