Pakistan

As Mahbub Ul Haq, Founder of the Human Development Report writes, "The basic purpose of development is to enlarge people's choices. In principle, these choices can be infinite and can change over time.... The objective of development is to create an enabling environment for people to enjoy long, healthy and creative lives." Human development is about creating a world where all human beings have the opportunity to fulfill their potential and lead a healthy and happy life. There are certain basic things that we each need in order to develop, such as adequate nutrition, education and access to a decent standard of living. Unfortunately, many of the world's poor are already denied these. People are the real wealth of nations, especially young people who represent a large percentage of the population in many countries and can play a significant role in creating meaningful change. The great amount of energy, imagination, and initiative of young people today can be used to overcome challenges and promote peace and economic development.

Youth, as defined by the Ministry of Youth Affairs Pakistan, is the population which falls within the age bracket of 15-29 years. According to recent estimates by Labor Force Survey, more than 27.63% of the Pakistani population constitutes of youth. Between 2006-07 and 2008-2009, there was an increase of 1.8 million in this cohort. The New Growth Framework of Pakistan points that the proportion of people under the age of 30 years is 68% of the population, many of whom are graduating into the labor force and the size of the workforce is increasing at an alarming rate of 3% annually.

Given these statistics, Pakistan is going to experience major youth bulge in the coming years. This emphasizes the importance of focusing on the needs of "youth" in the development and economic growth programmes.

In terms of urban/rural divide, more than one-third of the youth lives in urban areas and their share is expected to reach 50% by 2030. Compared with other growing economies in the region, Pakistan has the larger proportion (32%) of uneducated youth with no vocational and life skills and those who end up in elementary occupations or remain unemployed or inactive with females forming the majority.

Pakistan's historical weakness in engaging its youth has resulted in unintended consequences. The next generation stands on weak footing to deal with the challenges of an evolving competitive enviornment across the globe. Unfortunately, the majority of our youth has become school dropouts, and even those who do complete their education have little or no life or vocational skills. This leaves them with very few opportunities to choose livelihood and employment opportunities. This growing frustration among the youth is likely to make them vulnerable to prejudice and polarization which can lead to extremism. Hence a failure to engage youth and convert their latent energy into a dynamic force may result in very unfortunate consequences for the country.

Youth, as defined by the Ministry of Youth Affairs Pakistan, is the population which falls within the age bracket of 15-29 years. According to recent estimates, more than 27.63% of the Pakistani population constitutes of youth. Between 2006-07 and 2008-2009, there was an increase of 1.8 million in this cohort. UNDP Pakistan firmly believes in transformational change and realigning itself to the national priorities of the state. Where it is making an effort to mainstream important interventions for gender and disabilities in its programmes, inclusion of youth as a target group is an important feature which needs to be integrated into all spheres of UNDP systems as well. A closer examination of how youth programmes relate to mainstream development programmes, as well as to national strategies and UN planning processes is essential.

 Contact Details

Sana Zia, Young Professional Officer, Crisis Prevention and Recovery Unit This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Jawad Rehman, Young Professional Officer, Poverty Reduction Unit, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Syed Hashim Zaidi, Young Professional Officer, Democratic Governance Unit This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it