Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 05/2014

The Global Youth Wellbeing Index

Nicole Goldin

April 2014

Center for Strategic and International Studies

Abstract

The Youth, Prosperity, and Security Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), in partnership with the International Youth Foundation (IYF), has developed a groundbreaking Global Youth Wellbeing Index, to elevate distinct young people’s issues and comparative status from within national and population-wide measures of national poverty, development, and wellbeing. The Index comprises 40 representative indicators across six domains of wellbeing: citizen participation, education, economic opportunity, health, safety and security, and information and communications technology. The report details the Initiative’s findings, recommendations, and methodology used to construct the Global Youth Wellbeing Index. It is the hope of the Initiative that policymakers, donors, and youth are able to use this tool as the world moves forward with the post-2015 agenda.