Brunei ranked 31st in Commonwealth Youth Development Index

Rasidah HAB
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

BRUNEI Darussalam placed 31st in the overall Youth Development Index (YDI) score out of 54 countries said a report on Youth Development Index for September 2013.

Australia topped on the overall Youth Development Index list followed by Canada.

For education, Brunei placed 22 out of 52 countries while New Zealand and Canada topped the list.

Education indicators considered years of schooling, education spending as a percentage of GDP and youth literacy.

The health and wellbeing took into account youth mortality rate, cannabis use, teenage pregnancy rates, HIV prevalence and tobacco use.

For Health, Brunei placed 29 out of 54 countries, with Australia and Singapore at top.

Under the category for employment, considering youth unemployment and youth unemployment ratio, Brunei placed 36 out of 46 countries with available data.

Pakistan and Singapore topped the list at first and second place respectively.

Political Participation took into consideration youth policies and representation, voter education and youth ability to express political views.

For political participation, Brunei placed 51 out of 52 countries with available data. Top on the list were Australia and United Kingdom.

The last domain, civic participation considered youth volunteering rate and percentage of youth who help strangers.

Under Civic Participation, Brunei placed 22 out of 54 countries. On top is Sierra Leone and Guyana.

The report was launched by the Commonwealth on September 19.

The index, according to the website, "offers an inter-country comparison of the environment for young people, aged 15 to 29, across five key areas: education, health, employment, civic participation and political participation".

The YDI measures youth development in 170 countries including 51 of the 54 Commonwealth member countries.

The development of the Index was a target of The Commonwealth Plan of Action for Youth Empowerment 2007-2015.

Of the two billion people in the Commonwealth's 54 member countries, around 60 per cent are under the age of 30.

The YDI defined youth development as "enhancing the status of young people, empowering them to build on their competencies and capabilities for life."

It will enable young people to contribute and benefit from a politically stable, economically viable, and legally supportive environment, ensuring their full participation as active citizens in their countries.

The report added that by compiling the available stock of data into one comprehensive and harmonised measure, "it enables users to gain a better understanding of youth development in a single snapshot.

The research that has informed the YDI also informs users of where there are key data gaps and where data collection efforts need to be better focused.

Dipetik dari - The Brunei Times

Pautan berkaitan:

1. Laman web dan laporan Commonwealth Youth Development Index (YDI)