UNESCO: one in eight young people is unemployed

According to the tenth annual report by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation), 20% of young people in developing countries have not had the opportunity to attend primary school, and today, 160 million adults have no qualification. And as the lack of professionalisation is a devastating condition, there is an urgent need to invest in the skills of young people. The high rate of youth unemployment is a reflection of this situation, as one in eight young people does not have a job, and one in four is employed, but is unable to earn enough money to rise above the poverty line.

The projections of UNESCO say that the prospects for the next few years are not positive, and therefore, the Millennium goals (for which the deadline is 2015), seem to be out of reach once more. Today, 250 million children of preschool age can neither read nor write; for adults, the number of those who are illiterate is 775 million throughout the world, of whom, two-thirds are women.