The disparate distribution of youth development was also present across the 50 Commonwealth countries in the 2023 YDI, with around three-fifths (62.0 per cent) of the Commonwealth countries falling within the medium and low categories (16 and 15 countries respectively). Thirteen Commonwealth countries recorded a high level of youth development and six recorded very high levels of youth development.
Of the Commonwealth’s population of over 2.5 billion, more than 60.0 per cent are under the age of 30 (Commonwealth Secretariat, 2021), underscoring the importance of fostering youth development in Commonwealth countries. However, the YDI shows that Commonwealth countries have achieved less progress in youth development in the past decade than the world at large. From 2010 to 2022, the Commonwealth countries recorded an average improvement in youth development of 2.6 per cent, compared with a global average improvement of almost 2.8 per cent. Of the 50 Commonwealth countries included in the 2023 YDI, 47, or 94.0 per cent, improved their YDI score. Scores deteriorated in three countries – Belize, Cyprus and Canada. Unfortunately, six small states in the Commonwealth did not meet the threshold of data availability over the 12-year period required in order to be included in the report.
All five Commonwealth regions – Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and the Americas, Europe and the Pacific – are represented on the index. On average, all Commonwealth regions improved their score over the 12-year period, with Africa and Asia recording the highest increases, at around 4.00 per cent and 2.59 per cent, respectively. Europe recorded, on average, a very small decline over the four-year period between 2018 and 2022 (looking at the period since the data used in the last YDI report). Figure 3.2 illustrates this very modest decline.
As Table 3.1 shows, the 10 highest-ranking Commonwealth countries in the 2023 YDI are all in Europe, Asia and the Pacific. With the exception of Pakistan and Papua New Guinea, all of the 10 lowest-ranking countries in the Commonwealth are in Africa, as is shown in Table 3.2.
Over the 12-year period, the highest riser was India (improving by around 8.0 per cent), followed closely by Zambia, Uganda, Sierra Leone and Togo, each of which improved their scores by between 6.0 and 7.0 per cent.
It is interesting to note that Ghana, Tonga, The Gambia, Fiji and Brunei Darussalam are among the countries that have moved the most places up the ranks relative to other Commonwealth countries since the 2020 report. However, it is important to remember that ranks are relative to the performance of other countries. Countries may improve their overall score and performance but not increase their relative ranking on the index. For example, Nigeria and Papua New Guinea have improved their YDI scores since 2010 but remain among the lowest-ranked countries – and indeed have fallen four and six ranks respectively relative to other Commonwealth countries. Mozambique remains the lowest-ranked country, despite having improved its YDI score by 2.4 per cent since 2010.
Those Commonwealth countries whose scores have deteriorated slightly are Belize, Cyprus and Canada (each deteriorating by less than 1.0 per cent). Although Singapore has recorded an increase of only 0.38 per cent over 12 years, it retains its top spot on the global index.
The thematic trends in the Commonwealth are promising. On average, the Commonwealth has made progress in all six YDI domains over the past 12 years, with the largest improvement seen in the Political and Civic Participation, Employment and Opportunity, and Education domains, as Figure 3.3 shows. Political and Civic Participation improved by 5.8 per cent from 2010 to 2022, while the Employment and Opportunity and the Education domains improved by 5.0 and 3.8 per cent, respectively. As with the global averages, the domain to experience the smallest improvement in the Commonwealth was Peace and Security, which improved by 0.7 per cent.
The average literacy rate in the Commonwealth has improved over the past 12 years, and young men and young women have become more equal, on average, with respect to literacy. The Commonwealth average score for school completion has improved by over 6.0 per cent, and fewer girls in the Commonwealth are getting married before age 18.
Long-term thematic gains like these are encouraging, particularly as fewer young people in the Commonwealth are dying from interpersonal violence, conflict and terrorism. However, it is important to note a more recent minimal decrease of 0.27 per cent in the Peace and Security domain over the four years between 2018 and 2022. This has been affected by a slight deterioration in the average internal peace score, for which 2022 data is available, suggesting that young people are living in more violent environments, which will affect opportunities for them to pursue their dreams and aspirations.
The improvement in the Political and Civic Participation domain since the 2020 report is also encouraging. This could potentially be reflective of increased civic engagement by young people as a part of COVID-19 response initiatives. However, overall the scores are low. The 2018 data used in the 2020 YDI report showed a fall in the number of young people voicing an opinion to officials and volunteering their time compared with in 2010. However, by 2022 these indicators had rebounded and surpassed the 2010 scores. The average Commonwealth scores for voicing opinions to an official and volunteering time have increased by 21.1 per cent and 10.6 per cent, respectively, since 2010.
This means, therefore, that the overall decline in the Political and Civic Participation domain among Commonwealth countries owes to poorer performance or stagnation on the other indicators. For a lack of recent data, the youth policy score has remained stagnant on the index since 2016. This reinforces the need for the Commonwealth Secretariat to take bold actions to engage global partners in strengthening the measurement of youth political and civic participation, taking into account youth participation frameworks that have been developed in past years.