Seychelles: Youth Priorities in Seychelles: the Economy and Drug Abuse

Young citizens are more positive than their elders in their appraisals of the economy, their living conditions, and prospects for improvement.

Key findings

  • Seychellois youth (aged 18-35) outpace older generations in educational attainment: Almost all young Seychellois (99%) have secondary or post-secondary education, compared with fewer than two-thirds (64%) among those aged 56 years and above.
  • But youth are also more likely than their elders to be unemployed: 8% say they are looking for a job, compared to 3%-4% among older cohorts.
  • Management of the economy tops the list of the most important problems that Seychellois youth want their government to address (cited by 32% of young adults), followed by drug abuse (28%) and incomes (23%).
  • More than half of young Seychellois think the government is doing a good job of creating jobs (59%), managing the economy (54%), and combating drug abuse (52%). o Fewer approve of its performance in reducing crime (31%) and narrowing gaps between rich and poor (23%).
  • Youth are slightly more likely than the elderly to say the country is going in the "right direction" (45% vs. 40%). o Citizens aged 18-35 are also more positive than the middle-aged and the elderly in their appraisals of the country's economy, their own living conditions, and prospects for improvement in the near future.
  • Young Seychellois are somewhat less likely than their elders to engage in political and civic activities such as voting and contacting their political representatives.

In Seychelles, young people aged 15-35 years constitute 30% of the population, while children under the age of 15 account for an additional 19% (National Bureau of Statistics, 2024a).

While the island nation boasts nearly universal youth literacy (99%), unemployment among 15- to 24-year-olds is four times higher (12.2%) than the national average (3.2%) (National Bureau of Statistics, 2024b; World Bank, 2024). Factors contributing to youth unemployment include a lack of economic diversification, with opportunities mostly limited to tourism, and a skills mismatch in the labour force (Karapetyan, 2020; United Nations, 2023; Bhorat, Ewinyu, & Yu, 2017).

To increase youth employability, the government has implemented a variety of initiatives, including the My First Job scheme, a youth wage subsidy programme in which an employer can claim up to 40% of a first-time worker's salary as a rebate, and the Skills Development Programme, which focuses on upskilling and enhancing the competencies of youth who have not finished secondary school (Gappy, 2021; Joubert, 2022). Five years into the programme, two-thirds of youths registered with My First Job were working (Gappy, 2021).

The Global Youth Development Index ranks Seychelles 102nd out of 183 countries, defining it as a "medium youth development" country (Commonwealth Secretariat, 2023). But how do Seychellois youth experience their development?

Findings show that the youth (adults aged between 18 and 35 years) are more educated than their elders but are also more likely to be looking for work. The economy is the topmost concern for young Seychellois, followed by drug abuse and incomes.

Many young people think the country is headed in the right direction, and youth are more optimistic about the near future than older citizens. However, findings also reveal that young Seychellois are less likely than their elders to engage in political and civic processes.

Anne Okello Anne is the assistant project manager for East Africa

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