Youth constitute about a third of the Bangladeshi population. In the near future, they will be leading the country. Therefore, to learn more about these youth—their aspirations, hopes, identities, perceptions—we conducted a nationally representative youth survey. Findings show that various factors such as socioeconomic status, gender, etc. significantly affect the aspirations and capabilities of the youth. Majority of the female youth, for instance, aims to ensure a bright future for their children; whereas male youth aspire to get a government job. Most of the youth seem to have completed their secondary school but lack higher education. Meanwhile, almost all of the youth who lack education, training, and are not engaged in income-generating activities are female.
Researchers: Dr Imran Matin; Dr Narayan C. Das; Nusrat Jahan; Anindita Bhattacharjee; Md. Shakil Ahmed
Partners: BRAC
Timeline: 2018-2019
Status: Completed
Contact: Dr Imran Matin; imran.matin@bracu.ac.bd
Publication
Context
Since 2007, Bangladesh has been going through the demographic dividend with more people in the working-age population. It is expected that this window of opportunity will start to close by 2040. If this period can be utilized efficiently, it can prove to be highly significant for the country to achieve higher economic growth. However, failing to establish appropriate policies, make substantial investments in youth, and take relevant steps to shape them into competent human resources will obstruct the route to achieving the potential economic advancement the country is capable of attaining.
But much of the discussion about youth in Bangladesh has been around sectoral interests and often limited to specific segments of the youth. There was no nationally representative and a more comprehensive survey of the youth, which is necessary to develop effective ways to unleash their power. Against that backdrop, BRAC, along with the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), BRAC University, initiated the Youth Survey 2018, a nationally representative, a comprehensive survey of the youth in Bangladesh.
This study is relevant to SDG 4 (Quality Education), particularly to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
Research Questions
In this survey, we tried to answer the following questions:
Methodology
The survey followed a multistage random sampling technique to collect necessary information from selected youths by dividing Bangladesh into five distinct regions. The regions are North (Rangpur & Rajshahi divisions), South (Khulna & Barishal divisions), North-East (Sylhet division), South-East (Chattogram division), and Central (Dhaka & Mymensingh divisions). Initially, from each region, we randomly selected 30 sub-districts (Upazilas/thanas). Then, two unions/wards were randomly selected from each sub-district. And finally, one village/mohalla from each selected union/ward was selected randomly. Fourteen youth (seven males, seven females) were surveyed in each selected village/mohalla, following a systematic random sampling technique. In total, the survey covered 150 Upazilas/thanas, 300 unions/wards, 300 villages/mohallas, and 4,200 youth, distributed equally across the five regions (i.e. 840 youths from each region).
In this study, we first look at the self-identities and life-goals of the youth. Then we look at their readiness in terms of education and skills, followed by their involvement in earning activities. Then we look at the status of their perceived freedom of choice. Finally, we analyze their political outlook.
Findings and Recommendations
Nationality and religion were the top two identities of the youth. Female and less-educated, poorer youth were more likely to choose a religious identity. Ensuring a bright future for the children and asset accumulation are two most important life-goals for the poorer youth with limited education. For the richer, educated youth, it is quality education, government job and establishing their own business. For the female youth, ensuring children’s bright future is most important; for the male youth, it is getting a government job. An overwhelming majority of the students, both male and female, mentioned government job. Almost no one mentioned any other type of job.
Though very few youths have no formal education, very few also have higher education: seven percent male and four percent female youth. Only 14% overall have any kind of vocational education. Very few youths are confident about their English language and computer skills; female and youth with limited education are even less confident. Only 40% have access to the internet; female and rural youth have much less access compared to male and urban youth. Only about a fifth believe that their education would help them get a job.
For male youth who are not students, engagement in earning activities is about 90% with education level HSC and below; it goes down considerably with higher education. For female youth, engagement in earning activities is lowest among those with education between class V and HSC, which is more than twice as much as those with higher education. Ninety percent of the youth who are neither in Education, in earning or in training (NEET) are female.
About 20% of the youth, mostly male, are interested to work overseas and a third of them are actively planning. Even though their average education level, vocational training, English and computer skills are better than the overall rates, the rates are still quite low.
In terms of perceived freedom of choice, male youth reported enjoying consistently high freedom of choice across different domains: choosing an educational institution, friends and occupation, moving freely and spending money. Female youth reported far lower levels of freedom in all these areas, particularly in choosing an occupation, moving freely and spending money. Only 40% of women reported the freedom to move freely, half that of male youth.
The youth believe high-quality and job-oriented education are the two most important drivers of development followed by political issues such as stability and governance. The youth are mainly concerned about two types of things – gender-based violence (e.g. child marriage, dowry, sexual harassment and rape) and drug issues (drug use and drug business).
As already described, we see a wide gap between male and female youth in all aspects, skills and education, income-earning activities and freedom of choice. We also see a deep divide between poorer and richer youth. Youth from poorer socio-economic status have a much lower level of skills: education including vocational training, English and computer skills. Even if they are interested to migrate, they are much less likely to actively plan for migration and have much lower levels of skills. They have much lower access to the internet. Their goals and aspirations are also not related to personal development. All these indicate the existence of a strong poverty trap.
Our assessment is that the youth of Bangladesh are far from ready to seize the opportunities offered by the 21st century, and their potential remains vastly unrealized. This is especially true for female youth and youth from poor socio-economic backgrounds.
