With many competing demands for scarce funds, countries often do not fully recognize how critical young people are to their national economies, societies, and democracies – both today and in the future – and consequently make too few public investments in programmes to harness their productive resources.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Preventable risky behaviors induce losses to society that account for billions of dollars.

• In Latin America and the Caribbean, a range of negative youth behaviors reduce the economic growth by up to 2 percent annually.

• Investing in youth must begin during early childhood and adolescence when life-long patterns of behavior are established.

• Economic shocks can impair healthy adolescent development, and targeted policies are needed to prevent negative long-term consequences.

• The World Bank finances more than $1 billion dollars per year to support youth investments in education, health and other sectors.