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This is the second edition of the Youth Supplement to UNFPA’s State of World Population Report. The 2007 Report focuses on urbanization; the Youth Supplement addresses the challenges and promises of urbanization as they affect young people.
In 2008, for the first time, more than half
of the world’s population will live in urban
areas. By 2030, towns and cities will be home to
almost 5 billion people. The urban population
of Africa and Asia will double in less than a
generation.
This will greatly increase the number and
proportion of young people in the urban
population. Most will be born into poor
families, where fertility tends to be higher.
The wave of urban population growth calls
for policymakers to consult young people and
reflect on their needs, both to realize individual
potential and to stimulate urban economies.
The challenges will include increasing the
number and quality of schools; attracting
new investments to create jobs and economic
vitality; and providing health services, including
sexual and reproductive health, so that young
people can live fulfilling lives and make
their own decisions on marriage and family
formation.
The Youth Supplement profiles the lives
of young men and women from seven cities
– Tianjin, China; San Salvador, El Salvador;
Mumbai, India; Dhaka, Bangladesh; Cairo,
Egypt; Rufisque, Senegal; and Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil. Their stories give a sense of the lives of
young women and men and the opportunities,
pressures, and risks of modern urban living:
as migrants who have left the countryside
to work and make their home in the cities;
as community organizers fighting for better
housing and services in the margins of cities;
as victims of sexual abuse and violence;
sometimes even as perpetrators of violence
themselves; as young women freed from
traditional gender roles and discrimination; and
as urbanites involved in music and culture to
escape from urban poverty and insecurity, and
to celebrate their lives.
The State of World Population Report
points out that the urban wave of the 21st
century presents an opportunity to enhance
development and promote sustainability; if the
opportunity is missed, the urban wave could
deepen poverty and accelerate environmental
degradation. This Youth Supplement is a voice
on behalf of the right of young people in the
world’s cities to lives of opportunity, free of
poverty, violence, and abuse.
