UNDP Youth Strategy 2014-2017: Empowered Youth, Sustainable Future

UNDP Youth Strategy 2014-2017: Empowered Youth, Sustainable Future

March 26, 2020

Worldwide, youth face myriad challenges in terms of access to equal opportunities to jobs and having a voice in decisions which affect their lives. 

In response to the worldwide phenomenon of young men and women calling for meaningful civic, economic, social and political participation, including in recent consultations on the post-2015 development agenda, UNDP’s Youth Strategy identifies  development challenges and issues facing youth today, and more importantly offers forward-looking recommendations for strategic entry points and engagement of  a broad range of partners, including young people themselves, in addressing youth empowerment issues around the world.

The UNDP Youth Strategy offers key entry points for systematic and coordinated action to support youth within an increasingly complex development context for their social, economic and political development. 

  • Young people are more prone than adults to be working poor. About 152 million young workers live in households that are below the poverty line (US$1.25 per day)
  • People under the age of 35 rarely occupy formal political leadership positions
  • 75 million of the world’s 232 million international migrants are under the age of 29
  • An estimated 780,000 youth aged 15-24 were newly infected with HIV in 2012
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