The demographic time bomb

At the end of the summer holidays, children and young people across the Middle East and North  Africa (MENA) once again donned uniforms, packed satchels and headed to school, as more than a quarter of the region returned to class. In Syria, a quarter of the country’s population, some 5.3 million people, are enrolled in schools, while 38 percent of Saudis, 46 percent of Yemenis, 31 percent of Jordanians and 31 percent of Egyptians are below 14 years of age. Altogether, half of the MENA’s (including Iran) 300-million-plus people are under 24 years old. While all these kids are enrolled in school, there is no pressing socio-economic problem. But over the next decade as students graduate and want to enter the workplace, finding employment for them all will be difficult. Already the Middle East and North Africa have the highest unemployment rates in the world, at 9.4 percent and 10.3 percent,