Nigeria drops 20 places on youth development index — ranked 161st of 181 countries

Nigeria has been ranked 161st out of 181 countries on the 2020 global youth development index, which measures the status of young people around the world.

In 2016, Nigeria ranked 141.

According to the triennial report released by the Commonwealth Secretariat on Tuesday, Singapore ranked top for the first time, followed by Slovenia, Norway, Malta and Denmark.

Chad, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Afghanistan and Niger took the last five positions, respectively.

The report, which measured youth development in 181 countries, indicated that 156 countries recorded slight improvements in their scores.

The index further reveals that while the conditions of young people have improved around the world by 3.1 percent between 2010 and 2018, progress has remained slow.

The index ranks countries between 0.00 (lowest) and 1.00 (highest) according to the developments in youth education, employment, health, equality and inclusion, peace and security, and political and civic participation.

It looks at 27 indicators, including literacy and voting, to showcase the state of the world’s 1.8 billion people between the ages of 15 and 29.

Afghanistan, India, Russia, Ethiopia and Burkina Faso were the top five improvers, advancing their score, on average by 15.74 percent.

On the other hand, Syria, Ukraine, Libya, Jordan and Lebanon showed the greatest decline in youth development between 2010 and 2018.

Overall, the index shows improvement in youth participation in peace processes and their education, employment, inclusion and health care since 2010.

Health made the largest gains of 4.39 percent driven by a 1.6 percent decline in global youth mortality rates, and a 2 per cent drop in HIV, self-harm, alcohol abuse and tobacco use.

Sub-Saharan Africa made the greatest strides in improving the health of young people.

Speaking before the release, Patricia Scotland, Commonwealth secretary-general, said the index offers a platform for countries to improve on youth development.

“Young people are indispensable to delivering a future that is more just, inclusive, sustainable and resilient,” Scotland said.

“By measuring their contributions and needs with hard data, our advocacy for their development becomes more powerful, and we are then able incrementally to increase the positive impact and benefits youth are able to add towards building a better future for us all.

“Our youth development index is a vital tool which has already significantly enhanced our capacity to assess the extent to which youth are engaged to contribute beneficially in their societies, and empowered by enabling policies and tools.”

Scotland noted that while the data used to compile the index was gathered before the COVID-19 pandemic, the findings indicated where progress was being achieved and where it was not, noting that urgent actions should be taken to secure the pre-pandemic gains.

“As we work to recover and rebuild from the many consequences of the pandemic, we need to draw as fully as possible on the energy and idealism of youth, so that fresh opportunities for social, economic and political development are opened up with present and future generations of young people equipped and empowered to fulfil their potential,” she added.