Data suggests that around 90% of the 1.2 billion young people on the planet live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).  The coronavirus pandemic is perilous for young people everywhere, but especially so for young people in these countries.

A recent study from Oxford University underlines the importance of providing adequate support to young people who are coming of age during the pandemic.  The research reveals that millions of young people in LMICs are managing responsibilities, such as marriage and parenthood, with limited economic resources and weak social safety nets.

Such perilous positions are almost certain to be exacerbated by the global crisis, with the pandemic increasing inequalities that were already dividing this precarious generation.  The paper highlights a number of areas of particular concern:

• Economic precarity – The report highlights how young people faced a precarious economic outlook even before the pandemic, with many working in the informal or gig economies, without job security or benefits.  The pandemic has exacerbated this shift, prompting many young people to divorce or turn to crime to survive.
• Gender inequality – The report reveals that there is greater awareness about gender equality among young people around the world, but they are nonetheless socially conditioned to adopt gender-stereotyped roles in the home, regardless of any professional path they may take.  The fear is that these norms have become more entrenched during the pandemic.

Support for the young

The report outlines a number of approaches that the authors believe are key to adequately support young people during this most difficult of times so that any impact they feel is minimized.

These include greater support for young people to return to school after marriage and/or pregnancy; better acceptance of married adolescents in poverty alleviation strategies; greater protection for informal laborers so that young people have access to good work after the pandemic; and more promotion of women’s access to safe public spaces.

“We need to be aware of, and prepare for these measures now, not in several months’ time,” the researchers say. “Otherwise this unprecedented crisis threatens to set back decades of progress and blight the futures of the generation now growing up under the shadow of COVID.”