Fast Facts: Youth Political Participation (YPP) in Asia-Pacific Region

More than 1.1 billion young people aged 15 to 29 live in the Asia- Pacific region, constituting more than 25% of the population. While youth engagement in political activism, such as street protests and rallying for their communities has been long- standing, their participation in shaping policy, legislation and political decision-making process remains limited, often side- lined, ignored or suppressed.

Only 1.84% of parliamentarians are under 30 years old in Asia (IPU, 2023). The 2020 Youth Development Index (YDI) measures progress in 181 countries across 27 indicators in 6 domains. The global average indicates improvement in five out of the six domains for the youth population, with the exception being political and civic participation, which experienced a decline of 0.18% from 2010 to 2018.