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Social Policy Brief, Issue No.3, International Migration of Youth in Arab Countries

Symbol: 
E/ESCWA/SDD/2009/Technical Paper.7
Issued in: 
2009

This brief deals with youth migration in Arab countries, as it reviews the reasons of this migration as well as the different mechanisms of its administration.  In recent decades, Arab countries registered several social accomplishments that improved the living standards of a wide range of social categories. Through enhancing education opportunities for different social classes, countries managed to limit the gaps in school enrolment rates for both sexes, as well as between large and small cities and urban and rural areas. In addition, Arab countries achieved tangible results in the health sector, particularly general health, as they managed to decrease mortality rates and increase life expectancy. But in light of the natural growth of youth,1 the low quality of education in the Arab region and its inconsistency with local labour market requirements, many young people fail to find stable and permanent working opportunities that would enable their economic integration in their societies. Indeed, their integration is becoming more and more difficult as they keep postponing the formation of stable families.