Afghanistan participates in the High Level Event on the Demographic Dividend and Youth Employment

The High-level event celebrated in New York on the 1st of June 2015 provided an opportunity for Member States and stakeholders to evaluate investments needed to reap the demographic dividend, including through employment opportunities for young people.

The concept of "demographic dividend" was conceived following the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in Cairo in 1994. It came at a time when the world was focusing on the interplay between population structure changes, economic growth and development. The demographic contribution to accelerating economic growth became known as the demographic dividend.

The demographic dividend can be realized through three steps:

First, improvements in health status, especially of women and children, contribute to a decrease in the number of children born to each family. Improved child survival combined with fewer children, leads to a bulge - or increase - in the population's successive contingent.

The second step of the dividend is the educational investment in the population bulge. As families have fewer children, they and the government have more resources to invest in the education of surviving children and women increasingly enter the labour force. Also, with fewer births each year, a country's young dependent population declines in relation to the working-age population. There are therefore fewer people to support; giving families and the country opportunities to invest in quality education for the young.

The third and final step is to have an economic environment where the educated bulge can find well-paid, decent jobs. The demographic dividend provides a time-limited window of opportunity for growth if it coincides with strategic investments to enhance human capital and create an enabling environment for businesses to demand and deploy those skills efficiently and equitably.

If all three steps are successful and timed well, a first dividend is produced as a large youthful population moves into highly productive jobs boosting the family and national income.

The event consisted of a high level opening plenary, two high level interactive panel discussions, and a closing plenary.

The Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was represented by Hanif Ahmadzai, Deputy Director of the UN & International Conferences Department from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who addressed the General Assembly during the event.

Speech of Hanif Ahmadzai, Deputy Director of the UN & International Conferences Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan [English]