Today鈥檚 teenage generation is now the biggest the world has ever seen, according to a UN report released Wednesday. One in five people on Earth are adolescents between 10 and 19, and about half the world鈥檚 population is under 25.
The youthfulness of the world鈥檚 population carries dangers, the report warns. Teenagers are the most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, the health impacts of poverty, drugs, discrimination, violence and sexual trafficking, it states.
However, if their healthcare and social needs can be met, the adolescents could develop into the largest, most vibrant workforces ever seen when they reach adulthood.
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鈥淲e are at a time of crisis 鈥� but we also have an unequalled opportunity,鈥� said Thoraya Obaid, the executive director of the UN Population Fund, at the report鈥檚 launch in London, UK.
She says the report is a 鈥渨ake-up call鈥� for governments and local leaders around the world to take action to improve healthcare resources for young people. 鈥淗IV/AIDS has become a disease of young people,鈥� says the report. One young person is infected with the deadly virus every 14 seconds, most of them young women, it adds.
Adolescent surge
About 1.2 billion of the world鈥檚 6.3 billion people are aged between 10 and 19, says the report. Almost 90 per cent of these teenagers live in the developing world.
High fertility rates and a lower death rate have caused this adolescent surge in population. 鈥淧eople were having lots of young children and there was not enough family planning,鈥� Obaid told New 杏吧原创.
In contrast, the under 10 population is smaller, says Alex Marshall, editorial consultant on the UN report. He says the global fertility rate has dropped from an average of six children per woman 25 years ago, to about three.
Pig in a python
Today鈥檚 youthful population poses a unique 鈥渄emographic window鈥� and 鈥渆conomic opportunity鈥� says the report. As people have fewer children, the proportion of the population which is of working age (15 to 60) will increase relative to that of dependents 鈥� those younger or older than working age.
鈥淐ountries can mobilise their young people鈥檚 potential, and launch an economic and social transformation,鈥� it says.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a pig in a python thing,鈥� Marshall told New 杏吧原创. The large teenage blip on the demographic chart will grow older demographically dominating the smaller younger and older age groups.
Provided education and health care is available, the teenagers could become in their twenties a 鈥減roductive engine and will drive development as they did in the Asian Tiger economies鈥�, Marshall adds.
