www.brac.net profiles of the adolescents and youths in bangladesh syeda sitwat shahed narayan das...
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Profiles of the Adolescents and Youths in Bangladesh
Syeda Sitwat Shahed
Narayan Das
Research and Evaluation Division, BRAC
7 February, 2012
Global Learning Meeting on YouthBCDM, Rajendrapur, Gazipur
7-8 February, 2012
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Objectives
Main objective is to document detailed profiles of the
youths and adolescents in Bangladesh, specifically on:
-Marital status
-Education
-Savings, credit and training
-Unemployment
-Perception about various social issues,
And to suggest policies for youth development
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Data Sources
1988-2008 panel data covering 62 villages across 58
districts and a total of 2010 households
Nationally representative survey on adolescents and youths
conducted in 2005. Total sample of 14,942 adolescents and
youths aged 10-24 years
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Demographic Characteristics Distribution of children and youths by age in rural area (1988)
Distribution of children and youths by age in rural area (2008)
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Despite economic development in 1988-2008, there has been no progress in reducing early marriage of the boys
Percentage of rural boys ever married
Marital Status
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Percentage of rural girls ever married
There had been some success in reducing early marriage during 1988-2000, particularly for 16 years aged girls but little success after 2000. Remarkable economic development during 2000sdidn’t contribute to reducing early marriage
Marital Status
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Marital status of the boys and girls by wealth groups, 2008 (rural)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Age 13-15 Age 16-18 Age 19-21 Age 22-24
% ever
marrie
d
Age group
Poorest 40%Richest 20%
0.0
20.0
40.0
60.0
80.0
100.0
Age 13-15 Age 16-18 Age 19-21 Age 22-24
% ev
er m
arried
Age group
Poorest 40%
Richest 20%
Poverty is not the sole cause of early marriage, particularly of the girls. Creating good social space and community level awareness may successfully address early marriage of the girls
Marital Status
Boys Girls
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Trends in enrolment rate (%), rural
Remarkable improvement in secondary education but little improvement in higher education. Severe gender disparity in post secondary level education Investment in girls education is undervalued
Education
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Enrollment rate by wealth groups, 2008 (rural)
Up to secondary level, female enrollment exceeds their counterpart. At tertiary level, the rate falls sharply for both sexes but more so for the poor.
Education
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Age Boys Girls
Age:15-19 12.3 12.3
Age: 20-24 22.8 31.6
Savings and credit (2005, Bangladesh)
Percentage of the youths with outstanding credit
Percentage of the youths with cash savings
Boys Girls
Age 15-19 24 27.8
Age 20-24 31.4 41.8
Credits are predominantly from informal sources (not shown), demonstrating that there is demand for credit among the youths .
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Participation in Training (2005, Bangladesh)
A recent study using baseline data on BRAC’s adolescent program participants showed that
youth who received IGA training are 8% more likely to participate in income generating
activities.
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Trends in unemployment rate among the dropping out youths (male, rural)
1988 2008
Age (Years)Average years of
schooling
Unemployment (%)
Average years of
schoolingUnemployment (%)
15-19 4.7 9.3 6.6 11.24
20-25 5.1 7.02 7.9 8.4
Unemployment
Education does not always ensure employment. Educated people probably feel shy to be employed in ill-paid jobs. Efforts need to be made to provide opportunities for self-employment, as increased no. of educated people would enter the labor market during the next decades but salaried employment may not increase at the same proportion.
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Percentage of girls sexually harassed (2005, Bangladesh)
0
5
10
15
20
25
Age 10-14 Age:15-19 Age: 20-24
% o
f gir
ls
Age group
Poorest 40%
Richest 20%
Sexual harassment
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Boys Girls
Age group 10-
14
Age group 15-
24
Age group 10-
14
Age group 15-
24
Girls should be married before
legal age (% responding yes)13.5 7.1 10.2 5.9
Believes that boys should be
more educated compared to
girls (%)
32.7 21.5 14.2 13.9
Perceptions about marriage and education (2005, Bangladesh)
Perception of the adolescents and youths
Girls still undervalue themselves!
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Policy Implications As proportion of children in total population has declined while that of the youths (15-29 years) has increased, there is potential to divert resources allocated for children to youth development.
Economic development particularly after 2000 has not contributed to reducing early marriage, implying that effort should be made on non-economic issues like raising community level awareness, empowerment of the girls and most importantly creating good social space for the girls.
15-18 is the critical age group, when significant dropping out occurs among both sexes, and girls are married off. Program designed for addressing these issues should make strong focus on this age group.
Significant school dropping out among richest suggests that efforts should be made to make the parents and youths aware about the value of education even if education does not ensure salaried employment.
A significant proportion of the educated males remain unemployed and this proportion may increase further as enrolment rate has recently increased remarkably. Effort should be made on generating self-employment. Potential areas for further employment generation should be identified and relevant training can be provided to youth followed by access to credit.
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Thank you