Investing in Youth in the MENA Region : Lessons Learned and the Way Forward

Abstract

Young people represent a significant asset in economic terms alone; they can contribute to productivity, increased consumption, and income taxes. But youth are also an important asset for social change and innovation. Arab youth see themselves as change agents, with young women as likely to be key to future progress as young men. Young people constitute well over half of Middle East and North Africa's (MENA's) population. Over 30 percent of MENA's population, 100 million individuals were between 15 and 29 years of age in 2007. This can be a demographic opportunity if countries had a majority of youth enter their productive peak while the elderly population still remains small. These windows of opportunity will remain open in MENA for nearly 10 years. In Iraq, Yemen and West Bank and Gaza, the window will be open beyond 2050.