An estimated 1.8 billion people today are between the ages of 10 and 24 and 85 percent of them live in developing economies and/or fragile states. Such youthful age structures can lead to a number of challenges, including increased potential for instability, and countries with large numbers of young people must find ways to address their unique needs.

The Global Youth Wellbeing Index, a new project by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the International Youth Foundation, ranks countries on their efforts to do just that.

The report evaluates 30 economically and regionally diverse countries which contain nearly 70 percent of the world’s youth and ranks them in six key domains: citizen participation, economic opportunity, education, health, information and communications technology, and safety and security.

“Overall, this inaugural index finds that the large majority of the world’s youth live in countries at or near the bottom of the wellbeing rankings,” a video released along with the report says.

Broadly speaking, youth in more developed countries tend to fare better than their counterparts in developing nations, with Australia ranking first overall, scoring highest in education and health, and Nigeria coming in last, ranking 25 out of 30 or lower for every category except citizen participation and ranking last in both education and safety and security.

Economic opportunity was the domain in which youth fared worst across the board, with countries’ income levels correlating most strongly with overall youth wellbeing. Countries scored highest in health overall.

Although all of the top seven countries are high-income OECD member states, it is clear that national economic success does not always translate to youth wellbeing. Spain, for example, a country with a GDP of $1.4 trillion in 2013, suffers from high youth unemployment (high of 56 percent in August 2013). Additionally, the report points out that it’s possible to serve youth development needs “even where resources may be more constrained – as in Vietnam, which performs above its lower-middle-income peers.”

The United States, which takes the number one ranking in economic opportunity, scored 12^th in health and 20^th in citizen participation.

Why Focus on Youth?

The large numbers of young people today could be a boon to many developing countries, but governments must “ensure youth have the tools and resources they need to thrive,” the report states.

Success could bring the “demographic dividend,” a phenomenon experienced in Asia and elsewhere during the 20^th century where a disproportionate number of working-aged, educated people leads to a period of prosperity.

Failure to address youth needs could be catastrophic, as studies have shown that countries with excessively youthful populations tend disproportionately toward conflict and destabilization, risks which, if realized, can limit educational and economic opportunities and lead to cycles of violence.

The index comes at a key moment, as today’s young people represent the largest such generation in history and policymakers around the world are deciding which development priorities to pursue following the closure of the Millennium Development Goals next year.

The authors note that, “at a time when policy and investment decisions are increasingly data driven, data on youth development and wellbeing is often fragmented, inconsistent, or nonexistent.” The index serves as a starting point for more in-depth research by shedding light on data gaps and providing a basis for youth engagement in policymaking.