Sri Lanka ranks ‘very high’ in youth development

Thursday, 3 November 2016 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sri Lanka ranked ‘Very High’ at 31st place in the global Youth Development Index (YDI) compiled by the Commonwealth Secretariat on the country’s condition of five key aspects of youth development in Education, Health and Well-being, Employment and Opportunity, Political Participation and Civic Participation.

The YDI is a composite index of 18 indicators in total, grouping between two and six indicators in each domain that collectively measure multi-dimensional progress on youth development in 183 countries, including 49 of the 53 Commonwealth countries.

Sri Lanka ranked 31 with an overall score of 0.731 in 2016 placing at seventh among the Commonwealth countries.

The YDI is guided by the Commonwealth definition of youth as people between the ages of 15 and 29, while recognising that some countries and international institutions define youth differently.

The 2016 report says all-round development of young people is improving in most parts of the world, though at a very slow pace. Youth development in the Commonwealth registered larger gains than the global average and Aside from Pakistan, every country in the Commonwealth either maintained or improved its level of youth development from 2010 to 2015.

Germany ranked the highest in 2016, followed by Denmark, Australia, Switzerland and the UK rounding up the top five in that order.

In South Asia, India ranked poorly at 133rd in the index behind Bhutan (69) and Nepal (77) and ahead of Bangladesh at 146 and Pakistan at 154.