42
\ Global Youth Development Index and Report 2016
exceptional score in a particular domain, regardless
of the country’s overall YDI score. Indicator weights
are listed in the methodology in Table A2.8 of
Annex 2.
There is not a single country that appears in the
top ten rankings for all the five domains of the YDI.
The Netherlands is the most consistent top ten
performer across domains, as it is in the top ten
for three of the five domains. Canada, Costa Rica,
Denmark, Germany, Iceland and Japan all rank in the
top ten for two domains each and are all ranked in
the top 25 countries in the overall YDI rankings.
Eurasia, Central America and the Caribbean, and
Asia-Pacific. South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa,
which together account for just over 40 per cent of
the world’s youth population, are the only regions
whose average scores in the Education domain are
below the global average.
Between 2010 and 2015, domain scores have
changed in different directions and at different
rates. These changes have been more pronounced
in some regions than others (Figure 2.11).
Table 2.6 lists countries with the highest and lowest
ranks in the Education domain, and compares them
with their overall rank in the 2016 YDI. Except Japan,
all top ten countries are in Europe. In contrast, the
ten lowest-ranked countries are all from SubSaharan Africa. Four countries that rank among the
top ten in the Education domain are also ranked in
the top ten in the overall YDI. Similarly, four of the
lowest-ranked countries in this domain are also in
the same category in the overall YDI.
2.4.1 Education
2.4.2 Health and Well-being
This domain in the YDI captures the progress the
world has made in improving young people’s access
to education and their familiarity with information
and communication technologies. Between
2010 and 2015, Education registered the lowest
improvement among all the domains, at 2 per cent.
Except South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, where
moderate improvements were recorded, scores for
other regions in this domain barely moved.
The Health and Well-being domain seeks to
measure access to, and quality of, healthcare
available to young people in every country, as well as
the level of youth well-being.
North America and Europe are leading the world in
this YDI domain (see Section 2.5), with nearly 100
per cent youth literacy and secondary enrolment
rates, followed by South America, Russia and
Between 2010 and 2015, the global Health
and Well-being average score improved by
approximately 3 per cent, mostly because of
progress in Sub-Saharan Africa, which experienced
a rise of nearly 12 per cent in its Health and Wellbeing score. For the world on the whole, moderate
improvements were recorded in the past five years
for the indicators relating to youth mortality, alcohol
abuse and mental disorders. Drug abuse was the
Table 2.6 Highest and lowest-ranked countries in the Education domain compared with their overall
2016 YDI score
Ten highest-scoring
countries
Education
rank
Overall
YDI rank
Ten lowest-scoring
countries
Education
rank
Overall
YDI rank
Mali
174
174
Netherlands
1
6
Finland
2
25
Mauritania
175
172
Latvia
3
30
South Sudan
176
160
Denmark
4
2
Liberia
177
119
Estonia
5
47
Côte d’Ivoire
178
181
Iceland
6
25
Guinea
179
155
Japan
7
10
Chad
180
182
Germany
8
1
Burkina Faso
181
155
Lithuania
9
78
Central African Republic
182
183
10
16
Niger
183
180
Norway
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