Nigeria has ranked 161st on the 2020 Global Youth Development Index released on Tuesday.  

The report, released every three years, was researched and compiled by the Commonwealth Secretariat Youth Division ranking 181 countries. 

Germany, Denmark, Australia, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Austria, Luxembourg, Portugal and Japan were listed as the top 10 countries, while Central African Republic, Chad, Cote d’ Ivoire, Niger, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Mali were listed as the 10 countries with worst scores. 

In arriving at the index, the Commonwealth Secretariat Youth Division made use of five domains: levels of education, health and well-being, employment and opportunity, civic participation and political participation. These domains were ranked between 0.00 (lowest) and 1.00 (highest).

During the pre-launch of the report, Patricia Scotland, Commonwealth Secretary-General, urged world leaders to tap into the energy and idealism of youth as the world works towards recovering from the effect of COVID-19.  

“Our Youth Development Index is a vital tool which has already significantly enhanced our capacity to assess the extent to which youth are engaged to contribute beneficially in their societies, and empowered by enabling policies and tools,” she said.