Charting New Courses to Adulthood in the Global South

Shelley Clark, McGill University
Khandys Agnant, McGill University

Growing up in an increasingly global world offers the youth of today unprecedented opportunities, while also presenting both novel and abiding challenges. This paper examines trends in how young men and women in the Global South navigate five key transitions to adulthood using Demographic and Health Survey data from 47 countries between 2000 and 2023. Despite some similarities, we find little evidence of convergence across or within regions. There have been impressive gains in the years of schooling attained and a steady increase in the age union formation. Yet, labor force participation, particularly among women, has declined in most regions and gains to the average age of first childbirth among women have been modest. Our analyses show that marriage continues to be incompatible with paid employment for many women. Further, with the exception of education, there are few signs of diminishing gender inequality with respect to other transitions. These trends raise concerns about the ability of youths to fulfill the promises of the demographic dividend. Maximizing the economic and demographic potential of these better educated cohorts of youth will require increasing the availability of skilled jobs and helping women reconcile the competing demands of paid work and family obligations.

Keywords: Children, Adolescents, and Youth, Gender Dynamics, Human Capital, Education, and Work, Families, Unions and Households

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