Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- 1 The Kaleidoscope of Adolescence: Experiences of the World's Youth at the Beginning of the 21st Century
- 2 Demographic Trends Affecting Youth Around the World
- 3 Adolescence in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Image Constructed from Africa's Triple Inheritance
- 4 Adolescence in India: Street Urchins or Silicon Valley Millionaires?
- 5 Adolescence in China and Japan: Adapting to a Changing Environment
- 6 Youth in Southeast Asia: Living Within the Continuity of Tradition and the Turbulence of Change
- 7 Arab Adolescents Facing the Future: Enduring Ideals and Pressures to Change
- 8 Adolescents in Russia: Surviving the Turmoil and Creating a Brighter Future
- 9 Adolescents in Latin America: Facing the Future with Skepticism
- 10 Adolescents in Western Countries in the 21st Century: Vast Opportunities – for All?
- 11 Adolescence in Global Perspective: An Agenda for Social Policy
- Index
- References
2 - Demographic Trends Affecting Youth Around the World
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- 1 The Kaleidoscope of Adolescence: Experiences of the World's Youth at the Beginning of the 21st Century
- 2 Demographic Trends Affecting Youth Around the World
- 3 Adolescence in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Image Constructed from Africa's Triple Inheritance
- 4 Adolescence in India: Street Urchins or Silicon Valley Millionaires?
- 5 Adolescence in China and Japan: Adapting to a Changing Environment
- 6 Youth in Southeast Asia: Living Within the Continuity of Tradition and the Turbulence of Change
- 7 Arab Adolescents Facing the Future: Enduring Ideals and Pressures to Change
- 8 Adolescents in Russia: Surviving the Turmoil and Creating a Brighter Future
- 9 Adolescents in Latin America: Facing the Future with Skepticism
- 10 Adolescents in Western Countries in the 21st Century: Vast Opportunities – for All?
- 11 Adolescence in Global Perspective: An Agenda for Social Policy
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction
Every generation may believe its time is unprecedented. Yet the current generation of youth, the largest in history, is facing a combination of social and economic conditions and demographic trends certain to make their lives dramatically different from those of their parents and grandparents. In this chapter we ask how the absolute and relative numbers of young people and their nations' social and economic circumstances shape their futures. We do so to highlight how demographic conditions help or hinder governments' and families' investments in youth. In this way we complement the other chapters, which focus on the lived experience of adolescents in various world regions.
Who falls into the “youth” category, and what are the defining features of this group? The definition of youth is fluid and arbitrarily defined, both physically and socially, and varies across cultures and eras. The implications of defining this phase one way or another are significant for program development. For the purposes of this chapter, however, we can agree that in most cultures, the 2nd, and even 3rd, decade of life is an eventful time, a period in which young people experience changes in their roles and shifts in social expectations of them.
This chapter considers how differences in age distribution and in the culturally determined transitions that define youth together shape the experience of young people in various parts of the world.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The World's YouthAdolescence in Eight Regions of the Globe, pp. 21 - 60Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2002
References
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