Few would argue with the notion that socioeconomic development is contingent on peace, safety, and security. What goes for nations, goes for people too – especially young people.

Youth development is very much a function of having safe and peaceful communities and enabling environments. Though they can be resilient, youth are often vulnerable to exploitation and poorly positioned to exercise their rights or overcome risks, insecurity, or adversity, which can have lifelong impacts on their social, emotional, and physical development and economic trajectories.

Globally there remain large discrepancies in youth safety, particularly for youth in urban, conflict, and crime-affected areas. Instability, war, and displacement disrupt education and can cause youth to miss many development milestones – 50 percent of the world’s out of school children and youth are in conflict-affected areas. More universally, road injuries remain the largest cause of youth mortality around the world.

In the recently-released Global Youth Wellbeing Index, safety and security factors were considered equally alongside five other major “domains” that contribute to youth wellbeing: health, education, economic opportunity, access to technology, and citizen participation.

The Index considers the state of young people in 30 countries around the world, which hold nearly 70 percent of the world’s youth population. Of the 40 indicators that comprise the Index, 7 make up the safety and security domain:

• Internal peace, as measured by the Global Peace Index;
• Trafficking, as measured by the U.S. Department of State;
• Fundamental rights protections, as measured by the World Justice Report;
• Disaster risk reduction;
• Interpersonal violence among youth;
• Road injuries among youth;
• Youths’ concern for personal safety from crime and violence.

One perhaps unsurprising trend is that young people in wealthy nations, with few exceptions, generally experience greater safety and security than those in poorer nations.

Countries that perform best in safety and security are generally those that perform best in overall rankings of youth wellbeing, yet there are a couple of surprises. Sweden, Japan, Germany, South Korea, Australia, the United Kingdom, Spain, the United States, Turkey, and Jordan are the top performers in this domain, and all except Turkey and Jordan place in the top 10 countries within rankings of overall youth wellbeing.

Europe, Asia, and the Middle East

There are some interesting regional trends and patterns as well. Europe fares particularly well in safety and security, with five of the six European countries placing among the top 10 performers. At first place, Sweden has low levels of trafficking, strong enforcement and due process, high internal peace levels, and low rates of road injuries. Consequently, youth indicate they are less concerned for their personal safety from crime and violence.

Russia is the outlier among European countries at 29^th place, and faces significant challenges in trafficking, internal peace levels, enforcement and due process, and youth road injuries. Unsurprisingly, Russian youth report concern for their personal safety.

Across Asia, the results are mixed. Japan and South Korea perform well at 2^nd and 4^th place, respectively, but India, Thailand, and Indonesia rank significantly lower at 19^th, 22^nd, and 24^th place. India faces significant challenges in trafficking and with judicial rights, is experiencing lower levels of internal peace, and youth feel concerned for their personal safety. Indonesia fares poorly in road injuries among youth, trafficking, and disaster preparedness. Indonesian youth also express concern for personal safety. On a positive note, however, interpersonal violence among youth is comparatively low in both Indonesia and India.

In the Middle East and North Africa, Jordan and Morocco rank 10^th and 11^th, respectively, while Egypt and Saudi Arabia fare significantly lower at 20^th and 21^st place. Perhaps reflective of their comparative isolation from the impacts of the Arab Spring, Jordan and Morocco show lower levels of interpersonal violence, higher levels of internal peace, and a sense of safety among youth. These countries also record fewer road fatalities among youth. However, both countries face challenges in enforcement and due process, and trafficking is a concerning issue in Jordan. Egypt and Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, show weaker justice systems and struggle with road safety, trafficking, and disaster preparedness. Perhaps unsurprisingly then, youth feel insecure and unsafe.

The Americas and Sub-Saharan Africa

In the Americas, the United States ranks highest at 8^th place with particularly robust scores on the environmental indicators – fundamental rights, trafficking, and internal peace. Yet higher levels of road injuries and interpersonal violence among youth bring down the U.S. ranking. At the same time, in Brazil and Mexico where crime and gangs are chronic challenges, rates of youth interpersonal violence and road injuries are even higher, trafficking poses on an ongoing challenge, and youth express fear for their personal safety.

Interesting patterns emerge in sub-Saharan Africa. Robust performance on a number of indicators perhaps indicates opportunities for regional and cross-border collaboration. The East African countries, Tanzania, Ghana, and Kenya, show better safety and security results than South Africa, Uganda, and Nigeria, which remain at the bottom of the ranks.

Tanzania shows more success combatting trafficking, and youth feel safer from crime and violence. Yet higher levels of road injuries and a weaker justice system drive down its score. Uganda, conversely, posts scores below the Index average on all seven indicators. Similarly, last place Nigeria – as perhaps evidenced by the recent kidnappings and threats posed by Boko Horam – is clearly struggling to provide a safe and secure environment and strong judicial systems that protect rights and deter crime and violence.

Comprehensive Approach to Youth Development Needed

The results of the Index show middle- and high-income nations tend to have the public resources and governance infrastructure to prepare for disasters, decrease youth road injuries and human trafficking, and enforce laws with due process. Consequently, youth in developed countries on average indicate less concern for their personal safety from crime and violence.

These findings demonstrate a need for a comprehensive and systemic approach to promoting youth safety. Moreover, they confirm correlations and interdependence between safety and security and youth success in other areas – especially education and economic opportunity. Integrated youth policies and programs that are more sensitive to context and promote enabling environments can promote positive outcomes among youth and greater security for society as a whole.

Moreover, as discussed vis-a-vis other domains measured by the Index disparities likely exist between youth segments. More regionally and gender-disaggregated data could help identify important shared and specific challenges in ensuring youth safety and security, and opportunities for intervention and partnerships among relevant stakeholders. Gender-disaggregated data in particular could yield interesting results, as young males would likely perform worse in indicators related to conflict and violence, and girls and young women often have less agency and are more vulnerable to exploitation and rights abuses. Distinction between rural and urban youth, too, would likely reveal an imbalance and differentiated challenges.

Such findings are particularly crucial as the world considers how to enhance the safety and security of all in the wake of the Millennium Development Goals.