Definition of Youth
The Law of the Kyrgyz Republic on Youth Policy (2009) defines youth as 14 - 28 years of age. It was previously defined as 14 - 35 years of age.
Marriageable Age
- Opposite Sex
- Same Sex
- Without parental consent
- with parental consent
- Male
- 18
- 16
- --
Candidacy Age
- Lower House
- 21 Source: Inter-Parliamentary Union
- Upper House
- --
Source: Inter-Parliamentary Union
Unicameral.
Situation of Young People
Literacy Rates
- 99.69% Male (15-24) %
- 99.80% Female (15-24) %
- Year: 2015
- Source: UNESCO
Net Enrolment Rate
Secondary School- 80.79%Male %
- 79.95% Female %
- Year: 2011
- Source: UNESCO
Situation of Young People
Tobacco Use
Consumed any smokeless or smoking tobacco product at least once 30 days prior to the survey.- 10.30% Male (13-15) %
- 4.40% Female (13-15) %
- Year: 2010
- Source: WHO
Policy & Legislation
The Kyrgyzstan Constitution guarantees free public school education through 11th grade and makes it mandatory through 9th grade. The Law On Education (1992), amended in 1997 & 2003, reiterates these provisions and guarantees all citizens an equal right to education. The Law on Kyrgyz Republic on Youth Policy outlines six priority areas for youth:
- Spiritual, moral, civic, and patriotic development of youth;
- State support for young families;
- Protection of health and promotion of healthy lifestyles for youth;
- State support for education, culture, leisure, science, technology, and art;
- Provision of economic independence, vocational guidance, and labor rights for youth
- Support of young citizens in difficult conditions through social services, and rehabilitation
Public Institutions
(ministry, department or office) that is primarily responsible for youth?
Youth and Representation
Budget & Spending
- % of GDP
- % of gov. expenditure
Source: World Bank
Additional Background
After the mass protests leading to the ouster of then-president Bakiyev in April 2010, some young people observed the emergence of ‘two major groups—those who rode the revolutionary wave and those activists who had entered the public arena long before the storming of the Government House’ in central Bishkek implying that a strain of political opportunism exists among young people just as it does among their elders. While some youth NGOs receive support from domestic sources, many rely on grants from international donors.
Changes made to the country’s election law in June 2010 introduced a youth quota in parliament, mandating that no fewer than 15 percent of every party’s candidates be younger than 36. Although youth activists have pointed out that many parties viewed this as a formality and put young candidates at the bottom of their party lists, the requirement did raise the number of young politicians in the national legislature to 10 percent. Provincial level Youth Ministry officials have also initiated ‘young liaisons’ from each city neighborhood to support the work of the mayoral Committee for Youth Affairs (described in more detail in Section 6.3 of the Youth Policy Review). The Youth and Public Policy in Kyrgyzstan noted that youth policy had been ineffective:Over the past decade, Kyrgyzstan has developed a raft of youth policies, but few of these seem to genuinely improve young people’s access to information, rights, and opportunities. Too many of the laws, regulations, and conceptual documents have been reactive: off-the-cuff responses to political events— particularly, young people’s participation in the popular uprisings that overthrew two presidents—rather than the enactment of a strategic vision. Worse still, many policies exist on paper only, without effective mechanisms to achieve their stated aims.
The national youth law (2009) sought to address these concerns but the formation of the Ministry of Youth Affairs, in response to the April 2010 uprisings (now the Ministry of Labour, Migration and Youth) similarly lacked the coordination and strategy of previous youth policies. The report identified a number of factors compounding the effectiveness of youth policies and Ministries:...Foundational youth policy documents adopted since 2009 contain contradictions and lack concreteness; responsibility for implementation continues to be diffuse; data collection and procedures for evaluating and monitoring policy are extremely weak; policy coherence, cross-sectoral cooperation, and creative approaches to engaging young people are also missing. Overall, Kyrgyzstan’s youth policy fails to focus on young people’s needs or future roles in society.
It further concluded: Kyrgyzstan’s approach to creating a Youth Ministry, together with the latest wave of national youth policies, suggest that the country’s leadership has not learned from past mistakes and that, despite vocal official commitments to young people, youth policy remains a low priority for the government.