Eswatini Youth Intent On Employment, Cast Eyes Abroad for Better Prospects

24 October 2025
Afrobarometer (Accra)
By Asafika Mpako and Stephen Ndoma

Half of young citizens say they have considered emigration.

Key findings

  • Youth (aged 18-35) in Eswatini are significantly more educated than their elders: 90% report having secondary or post-secondary education, compared to 51%-80% of older cohorts.
  • But youth are also more likely to be unemployed: More than half (53%) of young citizens say they are not employed and are actively looking for work, compared to 22%-40% of older groups. o Aside from the country's economic situation and scarcity of jobs, young people cite a lack of experience required by employers (25%), a mismatch between educational qualifications and job requirements (21%), and an aversion to jobs in tough sectors (17%) as the main barriers to youth employment.
  • Fully half (50%) of youth say they would like to start their own businesses. ▪ Job creation would be young citizens' top priority for additional government spending to help young people.
  • Unemployment ranks as the most important problem that Emaswati youth want their government to address, followed by health, incomes, education, and infrastructure/roads.
  • On these key priorities, majorities of youth give the government negative ratings on its performance, including overwhelming disapproval of its efforts on keeping prices stable (89%) and creating jobs (86%).
  • A slim majority (54%) of youth believe Eswatini is headed in "the wrong direction."
  • Their economic assessments are even less rosy: Only 11% and 23%, respectively, are satisfied with the country's economic situation and their personal living conditions.
  • Fully half (50%) of youth have given emigration at least "a little" consideration. Jobs top the list of reasons.

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In Eswatini, where more than half (56%) of youth aged 15-35 struggle with joblessness (Ministry of Labour and Social Security, 2023), the government and development partners have established a range of initiatives to facilitate youth participation in the labour market (Africa Press, 2025). Aimed at reducing youth unemployment by 50% by 2030, one of Eswatini's most well-regarded programmes is the Eswatini Youth Development Programme, whose two pronged approach to the youth unemployment crisis focuses on both graduate placement and artisanal training (Mlangeni, 2022). For aspiring entrepreneurs, the Youth Enterprise Revolving Fund provides collateral-free loans of up to E200,000 to assist young people in their entrepreneurial pursuits.

Despite these efforts, limited job opportunities and a sluggish economy threaten Eswatini's ability to keep its young and energetic human resources at home. While 25,000 young people enter the labour market each year, only 1,000 new jobs are created annually (World Bank, 2025a). More than one in three young Emaswati - 36.5% in 2023 - are not in education, employment, or training (World Bank, 2025b).

The 2023 Global Youth Development Index ranks Eswatini 155th out of 183 countries, placing it ahead of regional neighbours Malawi, Zimbabwe, Angola, Lesotho, and Mozambique but behind Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, and Zambia (Commonwealth Secretariat, 2024).

Against this backdrop, countries such as South Africa, England, Ireland, and Taiwan are attractive destinations for young Emaswati in search of better job prospects and stability. Regrettably, young citizens' desperate attempts to leave the country have in some cases left them vulnerable to fraud, scamming, and human trafficking (Ngwenya, 2024).

Ahead of Africa Youth Day (1 November), this dispatch provides on-the-ground insights into the situation of youth (aged 18-35) in Eswatini. Findings from Afrobarometer's 2025 survey show that while young citizens have more education than their elders, they are also more likely to be unemployed. Half of young Emaswati say they would like to start their own businesses, but they also see job creation as the most important way the government could help young people.

On their top priorities for government action - including unemployment, health, incomes, education, and infrastructure/roads - young citizens give the government negative performance reviews, and a majority see the country as moving in "the wrong direction." Their assessments of economic and living conditions are just as negative, and jobs and economic opportunity top the list of reasons that many youth have considered emigrating.

Asafika Mpako Asafika is the communications coordinator for Southern Africa

Stephen Ndoma Stephen is the assistant project manager for Southern Africa

Read the original article on Afrobarometer.

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