The Future has Already Arrived

To hear directly from youth in Latin America about their perceptions of issues such as security, health, education, labor markets, family, the environment for the future, the Inter-American Development Bank, with Korea Fund collaboration, supported the OIJ to conduct the first Ibero-American Youth Survey. More than twenty thousand individual interviews in 20 countries, covering the youth population aged between 15 and 29 years provide a clear picture of the main perceptions and expectations of the new generations. The main challenge that this presents valuable work for international organizations, governments, private sector and civil society, is to interpret the messages and create effective institutional responses. For example, the fact that 33% of young people surveyed have expressed that crime and violence is their biggest concern, followed by drug and alcohol abuse, with 20%, and unemployment at 16%, force us to examine the priorities of our public policies.