Youth / young people. “Youth” is a period of
transition from the dependence of childhood to
adulthood’s independence and awareness of our
interdependence as members of a community.
The UN, for statistical consistency across re-
gions, defines ‘youth’, as those persons between
the ages of 15 and 24 years, without prejudice to
other definitions by Member States. However,
youth is a more fluid category than a fixed age-
group. “Youth”/“young person” is indicated as a
person between the age where he/she may leave
compulsory education, and the age at which he/
she finds his/her first employment. This latter
age limit has been increasing, as higher levels of
unemployment and the cost of setting up an in-
dependent household puts many young people
into a prolonged period of dependency 23 .
23 _ “What Do we Mean by Youth”, UNESCO, n.d., http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/youth/youth-definition/.
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