Benin's Youth See Gains in Education Amid Persistent Economic Challenges

11 April 2025
Afrobarometer (Accra)
By Obaloluwa Ayooluwa Aka

Fewer than half of young citizens expect things to get better in the near future.

Key findings

  • Almost half (47%) of Beninese youth (aged 18-35) have secondary or post-secondary education, compared to 26%-32% among older generations.
  • But young citizens are also more likely than their elders to be unemployed: 29% say they are not employed and are looking for jobs, compared to 16%-23% of middle aged adults.
  • Inadequate water supply and infrastructure/roads are the most important problems that young citizens say their government must address. Management of the economy, electricity, and unemployment round out the top five priorities of young respondents.
  • On these priorities, young citizens give their government mixed job-performance ratings: While 62% approve of government efforts on infrastructure in terms of maintaining roads and bridges, fewer than half say it is doing "fairly well" or "very well" on providing water and sanitation services (46%), managing the economy (40%), and providing a reliable supply of electricity (49%). Only 18% approve of its performance on creating jobs.
  • A slim majority (55%) of young Beninese believe the country is heading in "the right direction." Their elders are somewhat more optimistic (65%-66%). o However, 51% of young people perceive the national economy and their personal living conditions as "fairly bad" or "very bad." Fewer than half (46%) expect economic conditions to improve during the coming year.
  • While young Beninese report participating in political and civic activities in significant numbers, they trail their elders in voting, attending community meetings, joining with others to raise an issue, and engaging with elected officials. On most of these indicators, youth participation has declined over the past decade.

With a median age of about 18 years, Benin contains all the potential and challenges of an overwhelmingly youthful population (World Bank, 2021). Transforming its demographic wealth into economic and social development will require confronting a wide range of challenges.

Against a backdrop of widespread poverty and a "low" Human Development Index rating, the country contends with poor educational outcomes and the central issue of lacking opportunity, which places its youth at heightened risk of influence by criminal and extremist groups active in neighbouring Mali, Nigeria, Niger, and Burkina Faso (Rougeaux & Agbeshie, 2024; World Bank, 2021; UNICEF, 2025).

In collaboration with development partners, Benin has implemented a wide variety of initiatives aimed at boosting youth training and employment (Adegbola et al., 2020). One example is the National Employment Agency's Azôli programme; as part of the Youth Inclusion Project, the programme aims to secure jobs for 25,000 vulnerable youth (World Bank, 2024a).

Despite these initiatives, professional insertion remains a challenge for most young Beninese: While official unemployment is below 2%, underemployment was estimated at 72% in 2020/2021, and nine out of 10 workers were employed in the informal sector (World Bank, 2024b).

The Afrobarometer Round 9 survey (2022) provides valuable insights into the experiences and perceptions of Benin's youth. Findings indicate that while young people have more education than their elders, they are also more likely to be unemployed.

Their top priorities for government action are water supply, infrastructure/roads, and management of the economy, followed by electricity and unemployment. They see their government as doing well on infrastructure; less well on water, economic management, and electricity; and poorly on job creation.

More than half of youth believe that the country is moving in "the right direction," but fewer approve of economic conditions or expect things to get better in the near future.

Despite their dissatisfactions, young citizens are less likely than their elders to participate in political and civic change-making processes.

Obaloluwa Ayooluwa Aka Obaloluwa Ayooluwa Aka is a PhD student in the Department of Political Science at the University of Kentucky.

Read the original article on Afrobarometer.

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