There are nearly 1.2 billion people aged 15 to 24 in the world today. While the
number of young people has been declining in the more developed regions since it
peaked around 1980, it has been increasing in the less developed regions and is
expected to continue to grow during the next few decades. The size of the successive
cohorts of young people has implications for the demand for education and health,
the supply of labour as they enter the labour market, and can constitute a dynamic
force of political change and social transformations.
The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming the year commencing
on 12 August 2010 as the International Year of Youth, as a means to promote dialogue
and mutual understanding across generations. Furthermore, the United Nations Commission
on Population and Development decided that the theme of its forty-fifth session,
to be held in 2012, will be “Adolescents and youth”, as part of the actions to follow
up the recommendations of the International Conference on Population and Development.
This expert group meeting is convened considering these mandates and will bring
together experts from different regions of the world to present and discuss research
on two broad themes: demographic dynamics of adolescents and youth and socio-economic