Youth Employment and Sustainable Development in North Africa

Today, the generation of youth is the largest in history, with the vast majority living in developing countries. According to the United Nations World Population Prospects statistics,1 there were 1.2 billion young people 15–24 years of age globally in 2015, constituting nearly 30 per cent of the world’s population. Approximately 226 million of these young people lived in Africa, making the continent the most youthful in the world. Children under 15 years of age accounted for 41 per cent of the population in Africa and young persons 15–24 years of age accounted for a further 19 per cent.