Launch of pioneering new report “Migration and youth: Challenges and opportunities”

Media advisory

GENEVA / NEW YORK / PARIS ‒ The Global Migration Group will release a bold new publication “Migration and Youth: Challenges and Opportunities” on Thursday, December 18 (International Migrants Day). The book will be released online on globalmigrationgroup.org .

Two years in the making, it is the first publication to comprehensively address the multi-dimensional issues facing millions of young people who have crossed or are crossing borders in today’s increasingly mobile world. The key innovative message of the report is that youth migration can be transformed from challenge into opportunities.

The GMG report presents cutting edge knowledge, lessons learned, good practices and innovative policy recommendations from a score of United Nations agencies, other international organizations, academic experts, civil society and youth leaders.

“We live in the ‘age of mobility’ (…) 232 million people live outside their countries of birth.”

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon highlighted, “We live in the ‘age of mobility.’ International migration is a major global trend; an estimated 232 million people live outside their countries of birth.”

Young people aged 15-24 represent about one-eighth (28.2 million) of this population, and they are a considerably larger proportion of those currently migrating. The UNSG emphasizes that, “The intersection of migration and youth remains a large, inadequately addressed challenge for governance in countries worldwide and at the international level.”

The publication offers a full agenda of policy and practical responses on the range of issues facing governments and societies: better data, human rights, social protection, gender, employment and education, remittances, local government, youth participation, and development policy. It looks ahead to emerging challenges of environmental and climate change displacement and provides timely perspective for the post-2015 United Nations development agenda.

The report’s analysis and forward looking messages are critical and timely as demographic and structural changes see aging populations and declining workforces in many countries, while growing youth populations in developing countries demand employment, social services and meaningful participation.