The United Nations Thursday called for greater investment in the world's young people as they continue to suffer the impacts of a downed global economy, diseases and unemployment. The UN launched the International Year of Youth to raise awareness of problems facing the 1 billion people aged 15 to 24, or 18 per cent of the total world population of 6.8 billion. Nine of 10 youths live in developing countries, dpa reported. "Many of these young people are bearing the brunt of the global economic crisis," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in a ceremony to launch the new one-year programme. Ban said the young people were not responsible for the current economic crisis. But some of them have been forced out of schools because parents cannot pay tuition. "The energy of youth can spark economies," Ban said. "Young entrepreneurs can reach new markets, young communicators can reach new audiences and the idealism and creativity of youth are some of the most important resources any country has." The UN said half of Africa's 133 million youths are illiterate. Unemployment in sub-Sahara region stood at 12 per cent among youths in the last decade and dropped to 11.5 per cent in 2007. Young people accounted for 40 per cent of world's people infected with HIV in 2008. There are 4 million young Africans living with HIV, of whom 70 per cent are female. An estimated 3.8 million young people live with HIV in the southern and southeastern regions in Asia. One-third of the 280,000 people newly infected in 2008 in those regions were young people 15 to 24-years-old. The International Labour Organization in Geneva said the proportion of jobless youths rose from 11.9 per cent in 2007 to 13 per cent in 2009. "The effects of the (economic) crisis were massive," said ILO economist Sara Elder in discussing the report, while warning about a "lost generation" having been the result. The ILO said the rate of youth joblessness this year was rising slightly further, to 13.1 per cent, before a projected drop back to 12.7 per cent in 2011. In its analysis, the ILO noted that in developing countries, it is not unemployment which is the main problem facing the younger generation, but rather poverty. Even those who struggle while holding down several jobs in such countries still do not earn sufficient income, the ILO said.
