By Dayron Escorcia and Bryan Martínez 

Youth Advisory Group (YAG)
GOYN Barranquilla-Colombia

Youth in Latin America and the Caribbean face a wide variety of challenges in their daily lives. Each country presents a socioeconomic and sociodemographic heterogeneity unique to its context; however, certain commonalities can be seen between the realities experienced by young people in the Latin American region. Many of these challenges are a consequence of structural factors that have existed decades ago and have worsened over time.

According to the World Bank (WB), in Latin America and the Caribbean, there are approximately 20 million young people who are not studying or working.The interesting thing about this figure lies in the age range covered by the World Bank's analysis, which ranges from 15 to 24 years. However, in the case of Colombia and many countries in South America, the age range under which a person is categorized as young ranges from 14 to 28 years, which a priori would show the possibility that the figure of 20 million could be higher.

Listing the main difficulties faced by young people in South America is a challenge due to the contextual diversity of the countries that make up this region of the world. However, The International Labour Organization (ILO) prioritizes unemployment and informality as one of the most critical points in terms of youth, since in 2023 the unemployment rate for young people between 15 and 24 years old was 3 times higher than that of adults and the employment rate was 21 percentage points lower.. On the other hand, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) is emphatic in mentioning the large gaps and inequalities within the region's educational systems, which increase as the young person advances in education level, largely influenced by economic difficulties at home.

In recent history, different organizations that raise their voices for youth highlight how The lack of opportunities for young people ends up leading them down unwanted paths or wasting their potential. However, little is said about how these adverse scenarios for young people are creating new social and geopolitical phenomena such as Increase in rates of independent youth migration at the internal and international levels, this situation is accelerated by the need to achieve a life project under optimal development conditions. Data provided by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) indicate that the 11.3% of the total migrant population are between the ages of 15 and 24.

151% of migrants from Latin America and the Caribbean are young, according to UNICEF.. Digging deeper into this data, it is found that in 2020 the International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that The region has a figure close to 41 million migrants. In other words, we could infer that this 15% corresponds approximately to 6,150,000 million young people who have decided to leave LATAM in search of better opportunities.

At this point it is worth highlighting the importance of deeply analyzing this phenomenon, since from academia and public policies to When talking about migrants, the tendency is to reflect the general figures or the mobility of adults and leave aside the youth population.. On the other hand, it is extremely appropriate to underline the fact that although a large part of the young people who decide to change their country of residence respond to socioeconomic characteristics and realities where the difficult access to opportunities for personal and professional development stands out, this cannot be made a stigma or presented as a general rule, since in many occasions Those who migrate have a high level of training and this, instead of providing them with better professional alternatives, ends up having the opposite effect., hence the development of what many have called the brain drain. 

This phenomenon is reinforced by a dynamic where Today's youth are more likely to work in certain economic sectors such as technology and services., leaving behind all those manual or manufacturing jobs that are often associated with precarious conditions. According to the ECLAC, by 2030, 70% of young people will be working in the services sector, leaving behind the agricultural and manufacturing sectors.. A dynamic which encourages migration initially from the countryside to the large cities of the Caribbean and Latin American countries internally, which according to a report by the Essentials of Migration ManagementIt is found that the main reasons for this migration are due to Lack of employment, the impacts of climate change (mainly in Caribbean countries) or the inability to acquire their own land, to then find migration abroad in search of job opportunities in sectors that are on the rise and provide decent living conditions for these young people, which is why it always tends to be countries with more stable and developed economies. How can we verify this? If we look at data from the According to the World Bank, in a series from 1960 to 2013, Latin America has contributed 1% of global GDP during this period and this share has not changed.A worrying fact that is directly reflected in the well-being of Caribbean youth.

Therefore, this phenomenon of Brain drain, which for reasons explained above, generates a series of consequences that do not contribute to the social and economic development of Latin countries, since they generate economic imbalances and loss of qualified labor which, without forgetting that it is young, is essential for the proliferation of new ideas and ways of generating dynamism in the economy, development and solution to public problems that arise on a daily basis in countries in maturation or growth. It is necessary that these countries focus on the growth of their economies, and the construction of optimal working conditions for young people since it is common that in the countries of the region informality reigns, which according to the According to ECLAC, growth in the services sector does not necessarily mean quality jobs. Many of these jobs are characterized by temporary employment and a lack of social security.As young people, we demand attention to a problem that directly affects us, therefore, we urge the formulation of public policies and programs to address this phenomenon, as also stated by Andrés Espejo, consultant for the social development division of ECLAC.

The need to focus on the youth of the Caribbean and Latin America in the wave of migration is a necessity and a regional debt., inherited from the economic and social structural changes during the 80s and 90s, which brought many changes where a region focused on social welfare was born, but it was not until recent years that the young age group was seen as a population of interest to governments and public and social institutions, which in the words of the Argentine economist and sociologist Kliksberg, the responsibility for the problems of integration and economic progress among young people cannot be the responsibility of the young people themselves., the need for policies and programs can be the first step to remove the legacy of marginalization towards young people that these structural changes bring, as mentioned in a 2009 OAS report, "Not only was the course of development lost, but also equity.”

The migration of young Latinos to developed countries has weakened the region's development and the loss of the workforce has indirectly exacerbated inequalities. This is the result of the lack of public interventions that focus attention and understanding of the needs of youth.It is essential that regional research delve deeper into the study of youth's social, economic, and political dynamics. This understanding will allow for the development of public policies that are grounded in the contexts and, consequently, achieve a greater margin of success. 

It is the responsibility of the countries of the region to face these challenges through integration, cooperation and the construction of strategies that improve the living conditions and development of young people.While international organizations and developed countries are a cornerstone of these processes, we cannot relinquish responsibility and decision-making autonomy. There is no one better suited to finding and building these solutions than those who are experiencing the difficulties of these phenomena on a daily basis.