Global Youth Unemployment and the Fading Demographic Dividend

A recent World Bank forecast, highlighted by President Ajay Banga, warns of a looming global unemployment crisis. Over the next decade, 1.2 billion young people in the Global South will enter working age, but the global economy is projected to create only 400 million viable jobs, leading to a staggering deficit of 800 million opportunities. This demographic chasm threatens to turn the potential 'demographic dividend' into widespread instability, as developing nations like India face youth bulges at a time when traditional economic mobility pathways are stalling, and domestic markets cannot absorb new labor at the required pace.