We are pleased to inform you that the Commonwealth Secretariat has published the 2016 Global Youth Development Index and Report, which provides an evidence-based overview of the state of development of young people between the ages of 15 and 29 in 183 countries.

The YDI is a composite index made up of 18 indicators that collectively measure the multi-dimensional progress or decline in youth development at the national level. The index has five domains measuring levels of education, health and well-being, employment and opportunity, and the participation of young people in the political and civic affairs of their countries.

The research done for this report indicates that a majority of young people in the world face serious challenges to their all-round development, though there has been a marginal improvement globally since 2010. 

The full report can be downloaded from www.youthdevelopmentindex.org.

The Commonwealth Secretariat has also developed a ‘National YDI Toolkit’ to help governments, youth ministries, youth directorates and others develop a ‘National YDI’ that can utilise more comprehensive data and generate insight at the sub-national level, to guide policymaking and allocation of resources. The toolkit has already been used to develop National YDIs in Barbados and Australia.

The ‘National YDI Toolkit’ and ‘Australia YDI Report’ are also available on the YDI website, under the ‘Data and Toolkit’ tab.

Please feel free to disseminate the YDI report and its key findings, and details of the www.youthdevelopmentindex.org website, to your stakeholders and partners.  

We hope you will find the Global YDI and Report 2016 and the National YDI toolkit helpful to your important work. 

Commonwealth Secretariat