Arab Youth: Civic Engagement and Economic Participation

The Arab region has been experiencing a massive youth bulge, with more than half of most countries’ populations under the age of 25. Young men and women in the Arab region today are the most educated; thus they hold the potential to make a considerable contribution to the development of the region. “Taking the youth seriously” is not an option but an urgent priority for many countries in the region, which has witnessed the readiness and ability of the young men and women to mobilize the society and become an integral part of the social transformations in tandem with the Arab spring in 2011. Who are the youth? They are young men and women, aged between 15 and 24 years, living both in rural and urban settings. Some are more challenged than others with physical disabilities and sickness. Some are considered as minorities, thus are socially challenged in their environment as indigenous, migrants, stateless, internally displaced and refugees. Some are affected by humanitarian situations or armed conflicts.