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Today’s record 1.8 billion young people present an enormous opportunity to transform the future.

 

More than 1 billion of these young people live in Asia and the Pacific. That’s more than half of the global youth population.

 

How we meet their needs and aspirations and enable them to enjoy their rights will define our common future.

 

 

Asia has the highest number of young people aged 10-24 (1.1 billion), which is over 60 per cent of the world’s population of young people.

 

Many young people in Asia are living on less than $1.25 per day. Over one third (36 per cent) live in urban areas  and this is growing rapidly with rural-to-urban migration.

 

Each year some 7 million girls below age 18 give birth worldwide; more than half are in Asia. Nine in 10 of these births occur within marriage or a union. This has consequences on the heath, education, employment and rights of an untold millions of girls.

 

In South Asia, 22 per cent of girls give birth before age 18. Throughout the region, adolescent pregnancies are most common among the poor, the rural and those without education.