The Commonwealth Secretariat released its triennial rankings of Global Youth Development Index (YDI) 2020, it measures the progress in 181 countries across 6 factors of youth development. In the country wise ranking, India was ranked 122nd out of 181 countries. Singapore topped the Index for the 1st time, followed by Slovenia & Norway.
- The rankings are based on 27 indicators across the 6 domains (over the period 2010-18) – Health and Wellbeing, Education, Employment & Opportunity, Political & Civic participation, Peace & Security and Equality & Inclusion.
- For the 1st time, levels of Peace & Security and Equality & Inclusion were included in the 2020 YDI. The last edition was released in 2016 (India was ranked at 134th).
- It looks at 27 indicators to showcase the state of the world’s 1.8 billion people between the ages of 15 and 29.
| Rank | Country | Overall Score |
|---|---|---|
| 122 | India | 0.626 |
| 1 | Singapore | 0.875 |
| 2 | Slovenia | 0.866 |
| 3 | Norway | 0.862 |
Key findings of the Index
i.The 2020 YDI highlights that the global average youth Development Score improved by 3.1 percent between 2010 and 2018 period. 156 out of 181 countries recorded improvements in their scores.
- Global average improved in 5 out of 6 factors with the largest improvement in Health & Well being by 4.39 percent and the Political & Civic Participation was the only factor decreasing by 0.18 percent.
ii.The bottom 5 countries of YDI 2020 are Chad (181th), followed by Central African Republic (CAR), Afghanistan, South Sudan and Niger.
iii. The top 5 Countries that improved their position from 2010 to 2018 were Afghanistan, India, Russia, Ethiopia and Burkina Faso with their average score increasing by 15.74 percent.
- Largest fallers on the list were Syria, Ukraine, Libya, Yemen and Jordan with their average score decreasing by 10.28 percent.
iv.Peace & Security improved by 3.41 percent resulting in less youth to get affected from direct violence. Somalia recorded the largest gain in Peace & Security followed by Columbia, Srilanka, Eritrea and Russia.
South Asia
South Asia recorded the largest improvement in its average youth development levels at 9.5 percent, followed by Sub-Saharan Africa, Russia and Eurasia and South America
- The global Education score increased by 3%, with South Asia marking largest gains at 16% followed by Sub-Saharan Africa at 10%.
About Commonwealth Secretariat
Headquarters – London, UK
Secretary General – Patricia Scotland
