July 2023

Jul 26, 2023

Now is the time to tap the entrepreneurial zeal of Arab youth

By Sunil John

In 2008, when we launched the first edition of the annual ASDA’A BCW Arab Youth Survey, two themes dominated the discussion from Dubai to Davos: The Middle East’s ‘youth bulge’ and its ‘untapped youth dividend’.

Fifteen years later, and despite the Arab world population becoming younger, realising this so-called ‘youth dividend’ still appears a distant prospect.

Youth unemployment in the Middle East & North Africa has worsened, and at 26 per cent, is higher than the world average by around 13 per cent.

According to the World Bank, one in three young people (32 per cent) aged 15 to 24 are neither employed nor in education or training, and the United Nations reports that the region must create some 33.3 million jobs by 2030 to absorb the vast number of young people entering the workforce.

Without question, this is a daunting task for governments. The challenge is further exacerbated by the declining confidence of Arab youth – particularly those in North Africa and the Levant countries – in the ability of their lawmakers to solve their most pressing concerns, notably, unemployment and rising living costs.

However, the old order is starting to change. Instead of looking to others for support in an increasingly uncertain world, today’s generation of Arab youth are learning to rely on themselves. And while this is, in many ways, evidence of the failure of regional governments to provide a secure future for the next generation, it is also a heartening sign of the determination of Arab youth to chart their own course.

According to the findings of the 15th ASDA’A BCW Arab Youth Survey, nearly half of young Arab men and women across the region plan to start their own business in the next five years. GCC youth appear to have the most entrepreneurial drive (53 per cent), followed by their peers in Levant (39 per cent) and North Africa (37 per cent).

 This is unsurprising, considering the sums GCC governments have invested in startups and incubator initiatives, from Hub 71 in Abu Dhabi to the US$100 million Venture Capital Fund for Startups announced by Dubai. In Saudi Arabia, the number of small businesses, many of them women- and youth-led, has more than doubled to 1 million, since the launch of the Saudi Vision 2030 programme in 2016.

Outside the GCC, the will to start a business may be there, but the way is still unclear for many. About three-quarters of Arab youth in North Africa (73%) and Levant (79%) say it is difficult for young people in their country to start a business, compared with 42 per cent of GCC youth who say so.

Young entrepreneurs require a hand up rather than a handout to make their way in the world – specifically, less red tape, more vocational training, and more affordable (and accessible) finance. Our research also found that Arab youth most want to start their business in technology, e-commerce, and the creative industry.

Running alongside this rising trend in entrepreneurialism is the increasing desire of Arab youth to pursue a career in the private sector rather than government. While nearly half of the participants in our 2019 study said they would rather work in the public sector, less than a third (30 per cent) in this year’s survey say they prefer a government job. A full 33 per cent of Arab youth want a business career instead, a 13 per cent jump since 2022.

These findings are a call to action for both government and the private sector. Governments must introduce the necessary regulatory frameworks and invest in the infrastructure required for Arab youth’s entrepreneurial ambitions to thrive. Businesses must provide better access to the workplace for young school-leavers and college graduates, and the right career development pathways for the region’s rapidly evolving Arab national workforce.

Arab youth are increasingly ready to go it alone, and for this, they deserve support as well as praise. Governments and businesses must play their part to ensure their potential is fulfilled.

ENDS

Published in Entrepreneur Middle East. Read it here.

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Jul 18, 2023

Nearly half of Arab youth aspire to start their own business in the next five years: 15th annual ASDA’A BCW Arab Youth Survey

Entrepreneurial spirit strongest among GCC youth, with majority (58%) saying it is easy to start a business in their country Arab youth say financial incentives and better training programmes would encourage more of them to start a business More young Arab men and women prefer to work in the private sector than pursue government jobs

 Dubai, UAE, July 18, 2023: The Arab world has a promising opportunity to promote youth entrepreneurship with nearly half of young Arabs saying they plan to start their own business in the next five years. This entrepreneurial zeal also reflects an increased preference to work for the private sector rather than the government.

These are some of the notable findings of the landmark 15th annual ASDA’A BCW Arab Youth Survey, the largest study of its kind of the Arab world’s largest demographic, its over 200 million youth, by ASDA’A BCW, the Middle East and North Africa’s leading communications consultancy.

Youth unemployment in the region is one of the highest in the world at over 26% with nearly one in three youth (32%) aged 15 to 24 not engaged in employment, education or training, according to a World Bank report. The United Nations observed that the region must create 33.3 million jobs by 2030 to absorb the large number of young people entering the workforce, a daunting task that governments must take forward with urgency.

ASDA’A BCW commissioned SixthFactor Consulting, a leading research company, to conduct face-to-face interviews with 3,600 Arab citizens aged 18 to 24 in their home nations from March 27 to April 12, 2023.

The largest sample in the survey’s history covered 53 cities across 18 Arab states, including for the first time South Sudan. The interviews were conducted face to face rather than online to maximise accuracy and to reflect the nuances of Arab youth opinion across the region as much as possible.

Exploring Arab youth attitudes on their future careers, the survey found that 42% of young Arab men and women would like to start their own business in the next five years. This desire was strongest in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states (53%), followed by the Levant (39%) and North Africa (37%).

GCC youth were also more upbeat about their chances of going into business themselves, with 58% saying that starting a business in their country was ‘very easy/somewhat easy’. This compares with 79% of youth in the Levant and 73% in North Africa who said it was ‘very difficult/somewhat difficult’ to start a business in their country.

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According to the research, tax breaks, reduced fees for startups, enhanced training and education, and government-backed loans would encourage more youth to become entrepreneurs. When it comes to their preferred industry, 15% of the sample said they wanted to start a business in the tech sector, followed by e-commerce (13%), the creative industries (11%), manufacturing (11%), real estate (10%), the food business (9%), and retail, hospitality and education (7% each).

Growing preference for private sector jobs

One of the significant trends that the survey has documented over the years is the increasing preference of Arab youth for private sector jobs over a career in government.

Compared to nearly half of all respondents in 2019 who said that they preferred to work in the government sector, less than a third (30%) feel the same now. Meanwhile, a third (33%) of Arab youth said they would prefer to work in business, a 13% increase from 2022.

One in four (25%) young Arabs now say they want to work for themselves or their family, a slight decline since last year (28%), but a six-percentage point jump from 2019. Meanwhile, 11% said they preferred to work for a non-profit organisation.

Sunil John, President, MENA, BCW and Founder of ASDA’A BCW, said: “The fact that Arab youth are eager to start their own business is an encouraging sign, but it is also a natural response to the great difficulty in certain countries to find stable employment. Policymakers and the business community itself must do more to support those young men and women willing to do it alone.”

“Meanwhile, the increasing diversification of the GCC economies is casting the private sector in a positive new light,” John added. “This is a promising trend for the long-term sustainability of the regional economy and a potential source of jobs and opportunity for Arab youth outside the Arabian Gulf.”

“However, this growing interest in a business career must be matched by companies themselves, with recruitment and career development pathways introduced to empower the region’s rapidly evolving Arab national workforce,” John said.

In the coming weeks, ASDA’A BCW will publish insights under the three remaining themes covered in the study: My Identity, covering religion and issues of personal identity; My Aspirations, the hopes of young Arabs for the future; and My Lifestyle, highlighting their habits, pastimes, and the media they consume. Findings on climate change, mental health and gender rights will also be disclosed, making this year’s study the most extensive in the survey’s history. The overall theme of the 15th edition of the ASDA’A BCW Arab Youth Survey is ‘Living a New Reality’.

To know more about the findings, log on to arabyouthsurvey.com

 

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Jul 18, 2023

Confidence of Arab youth in government outside the GCC drops: 15th annual ASDA’A BCW Arab Youth Survey

Following the launch of the survey’s first theme, ‘My Global Citizenship,’ ASDA’A BCW unveils findings under two new themes, ‘My Politics’ and ‘My Livelihood’ Findings highlight stark divide in the perceptions of youth in the GCC states compared with their counterparts in North Africa and Levant Two-thirds of Arab youth in North Africa and Levant say their voice does not matter to their country’s leadership, a significant drop from 2022 Rising cost of living and unemployment continue to be the biggest concerns for Arab youth

 Dubai, UAE, July 18, 2023: Nearly two-thirds of Arab youth outside the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries lack confidence in their government’s ability to tackle their most pressing concerns such as unemployment, corruption, and rising living costs.

More than half (54%) of the total respondents also felt their voice did not matter to their country’s leadership. This is a significant drop of 19 percentage points over 2022 in the number of young Arabs who said their voice matters to their leadership. This feeling of estrangement, primarily driven by young people in North Africa and Levant, is also the most pronounced in five years.

These are some of the key findings of the landmark 15th annual ASDA’A BCW Arab Youth Survey, the most comprehensive study of its kind of the Arab world’s largest demographic, its over 200 million youth, by ASDA’A BCW, the Middle East and North Africa’s leading communications consultancy.

ASDA’A BCW commissioned SixthFactor Consulting, a leading research company, to conduct face-to-face interviews with 3,600 Arab citizens aged 18 to 24 in their home nations from March 27 to April 12, 2023. The largest sample in the survey’s history was equally divided between men and women in 53 cities across a total of 18 Arab states, including for the first time South Sudan. The interviews were conducted in person rather than online to maximise accuracy and to reflect the nuances of Arab youth opinion across the region as much as possible.

This year, the survey’s findings are being released under six themes, with the first, ‘My Global Citizenship’ announced in June. Today, ASDA’A BCW published key insights under the second and third themes: ‘My Politics’ and ‘My Livelihood’, which highlighted a stark contrast in the outlook of young men and women in the Arabian Gulf and those in North Africa and Levant.

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GCC governments showing the way on policy

More than three-quarters (78%) of Arab youth in the GCC states say they agree that their voice matters to their leadership while a full 87% say their government has the right policies to address their most important concerns.

Arab youth across the sample identified unemployment, government corruption, rising living costs, economic instability and climate change among the top concerns facing them and the region. GCC youth expressed strong confidence in their government to address all these issues.

Nearly all (98%) young Emiratis said they were confident of their government’s ability to address unemployment. Youth had a similarly positive outlook in Saudi Arabia (70%), Oman (67%), Kuwait (64%) and Bahrain (61%). Unsurprisingly, only 20% of GCC youth said it would be difficult to find a job in their country.

Young men and women in the GCC also expressed confidence in their government to address corruption. This was the view of 97% of youth in the UAE, 84% in Oman, 82% in Bahrain, 69% in Saudi Arabia and 56% in Kuwait.

Similarly, 98% of Emirati youth said they were confident that their government could manage the rising cost of living, compared with 66% of young Arabs in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, 64% in Oman, and 57% in Kuwait. Only 15% of GCC youth said they struggled to pay their expenses in full, though 16% said they were in debt, with student loans (25%), car loans (15%), marriage loans (11%) and excessive shopping (9%) cited as the main reasons.

All Emirati youth polled said they were confident that their government could ensure economic stability; high levels of confidence on economic management were also found in Saudi Arabia (82%), Oman and Kuwait (73% each) and Bahrain (67%). More than half (52%) of GCC youth also said there was no government corruption in their country, although 44% said there was ‘some’ corruption.

Youth in the GCC also trust their government to take action on climate change, with 97% of Emirati youth, 75% of young Saudis, 80% in Oman, 77% in Bahrain and 66% in Kuwait expressing confidence in the climate policies of their leaders. This positivity reflects widespread optimism about the future, with 83% of GCC youth saying their country was going in the right direction.

Government in North Africa and Levant unresponsive to Arab youth

A contrasting picture emerges from North Africa and the Levant countries. Only a third of youth surveyed in these regions said their voice mattered to their leadership, while 63% in North Africa and 66% in Levant said their governments did not have the right policies to address their most important concerns.

Nearly two-thirds (61%) of youth in North Africa and about three-quarters (71%) of Levantine youth said their country was going in the wrong direction. Just four in ten (38%) young Arabs in North Africa were confident that their government could address unemployment, while in Levant, which has among the world’s highest levels of youth unemployment, only a third (32%) said their government was able to address the issue. More than half of youth in Levant (57%) and North Africa (50%) said it was difficult to find a job in their country.

While a significant 41% of youth in North Africa said they were confident their government could deliver economic stability, less than a third (31%) of youth in the Levant said the same.

They were similarly downbeat on the ability of their government to tackle inflation, with 41% of North African youth and a third (33%) in Levant saying they didn’t trust their leaders to manage rising living costs. And nearly half of the study sample in both regions said they struggled to pay their expenses in full, with a quarter (27%) of youth in Levant and 19% in North Africa admitting they were in debt – student loans, medical bills, credit card bills and car loans were mostly responsible.

On climate change, 46% of youth in North Africa and 39% of their peers in the Levant said they were confident their government could address the issue. When it comes to eradicating corruption, 40% of North African youth and 28% of young people in Levant said they had faith in their government.

Graft is widely acknowledged by Arab youth to be a concern in the region, with a third (33%) of the total respondents to the survey saying there was ‘widespread government corruption’ in their country. This sentiment is particularly strong in North Africa (87%) and Levant (89%).

Sunil John, President, MENA, BCW and Founder of ASDA’A BCW, said: “What stands out in this year’s survey is the fact that, once again, young GCC citizens are poles apart from their fellow Arabs in North Africa and the Levant.”

“Over the past 15 years, our research has been a barometer of the hopes and fears of Arab youth in countries outside the Arabian Gulf, particularly on kitchen table issues such as jobs and rising living costs. A path to a better future for these young men and women must be found if we are to ensure the Arab world’s precious youth dividend is not lost.

“It is no small matter that the GCC nations are economically stronger, oil-producing nations, while the countries in North Africa and Levant – in particular, Lebanon, Iraq, Palestinian Territories, Syria, Sudan and Yemen – are conflict-ridden and only recovering from long years of a ravaging war.”

John said that the spirit of youth optimism emerging from the GCC states showed that realising such a future was possible. “The fact that three-quarters of GCC youth believe their voice matters to their leadership, compared to barely a third in North Africa and Levant is telling. It shows that GCC governments understand the pulse of their youth.”

In the coming weeks, ASDA’A BCW will publish insights under the three remaining themes covered in the study: My Identity, covering religion and issues of personal identity; My Aspirations, the hopes of young Arabs for the future; and My Lifestyle, highlighting their habits, pastimes, and the media they consume.  Findings on climate change, mental health and gender rights will also be disclosed, making this year’s study the most extensive in the survey’s history. The overall theme of the 15th edition of the ASDA’A BCW Arab Youth Survey is ‘Living a New Reality’.

To know more about the findings, log on to arabyouthsurvey.com

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Jul 12, 2023

Arab youth will be the first to live with a new multipolar reality

Read the commentary on the findings of the 15th annual ASDA’A BCW Arab Youth Survey under the emerging theme, ‘My Global Citizenship’ by Faisal Al Yafai, partner at Hildebrand Nord. 

Living in a multipolar world will come about – as Ernest Hemingway said about going bankrupt – gradually, and then suddenly. The latest ASDA’A BCW Arab Youth Survey shows clearly that the Arab world is living through the “gradually” part of the process.

This shifting reality is already apparent, but it takes an effort to detect it as a trend. One of the outcomes of a long-established survey like the Arab Youth Survey is that, over time, trends that weren’t immediately obvious become clearer through the data.

This year, one of the major findings is just how embedded a new, global multipolarity is. Looking at which countries Arab youth considered allies and which enemies throws up some intriguing answers.

At the top, more an ally than any other country outside the region, is Turkey, followed swiftly by China. The US, the UK and France are trending downwards. In microcosm, this shift reflects what is happening across the world, as the “rest” catch up with the “West”. As a region that straddles three of the major centres of the world, the Middle East was one of the first to feel its effects. As it develops, the Arab world, and of course Arab youth, will be the first to live with the reality of a multipolar world.

In some ways it is already becoming a reality – witness the China-brokered deal earlier this year to restore Saudi Arabia’s relations with Iran.

But it’s becoming a reality in other ways as well. While certainly true that the politics of Turkey’s involvement in the region, as well as China’s, play a role in the perception of Arab youth, it’s also the case that culture matters too. The two often go hand in hand. Turkey’s cultural exports in film, television and music are avidly consumed by young Arabs. As for China, the country is becoming a vital source of tourists. Saudi Arabia, for example, which has a young population, plans to bring in more than 4 million Chinese tourists by the end of this decade. Such links change the perception of the country.

A more complicated geopolitical landscape

This multipolarity will not look like the past, when the twin poles of the US and the Soviet Union existed during the Cold War. Instead, it will be more complicated.

Like most of the world, the Middle East lives with the extraordinary military dominance of the United States. Little wonder that the survey found America to be the country with the most influence over the region, by a wide margin.

That this influence is broadly considered negative is shown in a follow-up question, which found that a majority of Arab youth want the US to disengage from the region. (That belief was tempered in the GCC, with only a slim majority, 53%, wanting US disengagement.)

Yet, as always, the picture is more complicated. Look at two of the survey’s findings.

First, asked to name which country young Arabs would most like to live in or have their countries emulate, a clear majority chose the UAE. (No surprise there: young Arabs have said they admire the country ever since the ASDA’A BCW Arab Youth Survey introduced the question in 2012.) But the second most popular country this year was the United States.

The reasons why the UAE topped the list offers indications as to why the US is respected. Among the top associations were safety, a growing economy and ease of doing business – all associations that could also apply to the United States. More evidence can be found in the question about which country will be a stronger ally. Here, there was a tilt towards the US, but only just.

Almost exactly the same percentage thought the US would be a stronger ally than Russia (66%) as thought the US would be a stronger ally than China (62%). Put another way, there was a preference for the US, but not much for Russia or China.

This demonstrates the messiness of multipolarity. Arab youth admire many things about the US, but also dislike its excessive involvement in the region. But it also highlights how countries that seek to rival the US in some spheres aren’t interested in doing so in others. Neither China nor Russia wishes to supplant the US from the Middle East – yet in some spheres, they are rivals. An emerging multipolar world will be much harder to understand, and perhaps navigate.

Allies and adversaries in focus

In general, the allies and adversaries are mirror images of each other, with the country considered mostly an ally (Turkey) also ranking least as an adversary, and the country considered mostly an adversary (Israel) also ranking the least as an ally. But for two countries this isn’t true, India and Pakistan, reflecting the more nuanced position these two Asian countries find themselves in vis a vis Arab youth – and perhaps also reflecting the long, deep and complex ties these two countries have with the Gulf States, with Iraq and with other countries.

If Arab youth still see other Arab countries as allies – and the strongest allies named by Arab nations were always other Arab nations – then the non-Arab countries of the Middle East occupy a more nuanced position. Of the three main non-Arab countries in the Middle East – Turkey, Iran and Israel – Turkey has the strongest position.

Iran and Israel, by contrast but not unexpectedly, are viewed in less flattering terms by Arab youth. In only three Arab countries is there more than 50% support for normalisation with Israel – Egypt, Morocco and the UAE – and in the majority of countries there is far less.

On Iran, a majority of Arab youth in every region believe there will be military conflict between Iran, Israel and the West. That the highest figure is in the Levant, where this proxy war is already playing out, shouldn’t be a surprise. But the fact that North Africa, which is hardly a traditional battleground for Iranian-Israeli tensions, should score so highly is a surprise.

An emerging global citizenship

What will be the consequences of this shift to multipolarity, especially as it pertains to young Arabs? Some we’ve already touched on: an expanding cultural diet and political connections, which will no doubt lead to shifting work opportunities. The number of young Arabs learning Mandarin and taking jobs in Shanghai will certainly expand. I also expect a similar expansion of the number of Arabs learning Turkish – leading, no doubt, to thundering newspaper columns about “Ottoman” influence. In time, these changes will also shift the politics of the region, as the cultural influence stretches into political alignments.

But the major shift will be one of mindset. A world in which young Arabs consider countries beyond the Middle East and the West allies will also shift how they think of themselves. A new, more global citizenship will not emerge overnight. But the shoots of it are already apparent in how young Arabs view this emerging world. How they navigate it will be one of the most exciting aspects to observe.

ENDS

Faisal Al Yafai is a partner at Hildebrand Nord, International Editor at New Lines Magazine in Washington, DC, and a playwright. He has worked as a journalist in several Middle Eastern countries and was previously an investigative journalist for The Guardian in London and a documentary journalist for the BBC. He has reported from across the Middle East, from Eastern Europe and Africa.

 

 

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Jul 1, 2023

Most young Arabs see China as ally- China Daily report

Read China Daily report on the 15th annual ASDA’A BCW Arab Youth Survey findings

A majority of young Arab respondents in a recent survey consider China to be an ally of their respective countries, showing their increasingly favorable sentiments toward Beijing.

According to an annual survey, conducted by Dubai-based public relations firm ASDA’A BCW from March 27 to April 12, 80 percent of respondents viewed China as an ally, while 82 percent of young Arabs said they saw Turkiye as an ally. The United States ranked seventh among countries viewed as allies, at 72 percent.

The survey, in its 15th year, included face-to-face interviews with 3,600 Arabs ages 18 to 24 in 53 cities in 18 Arab countries.

According to the results, 61 percent of respondents supported the US disengaging from the Middle East region.

The survey also found that 28 percent of young Arabs think the conflict in Ukraine will ultimately be resolved through diplomatic negotiations.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a news conference on Tuesday that the survey results show that Arab friends, especially the young generation, see China as a sincere, amicable and trusted friend.

In recent years, many surveys have found increasingly favorable sentiments among people in Arab countries toward China, Mao said.

Noting that China and Arab countries enjoy a long-standing tradition of friendly exchanges, she said that young people are the ones to carry forward this traditional friendship, and they represent the sources of strength and hope for China-Arab friendly cooperation.

At the end of 2022, President Xi Jinping attended the first China-Arab States Summit and put forward eight major initiatives on China-Arab practical cooperation, including one on youth development.

The China-Arab youth friendship ambassadors 2023 program, which will bring nearly 100 Arab youths to China for exchanges, will soon be jointly launched, according to Mao.

“We stand ready to work with Arab countries to continue enhancing youth exchanges and cement the public foundation for building a China-Arab community with a shared future in the new era,” she said.

China is the largest trading partner of Arab countries, while Arab countries have become China’s seventh-largest trading partner and largest crude oil supplier.

Full story here

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Jul 1, 2023

China stands ready to enhance youth exchange with Arab countries, says Chinese spokesperson

The findings of the 15th annual ASDA’A BCW Arab Youth Survey were highlighted at China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning’s Regular Press Conference on June 27, 2023

China on Tuesday hailed increasing favorable sentiments among people in Arab world towards China and vowed to foster closer ties with countries in the region.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning made the remarks during a routine press conference in Beijing in response to a recent survey on China-Arab ties conducted by a Dubai-based PR consultancy.

According to the survey, among 3,600 people aged between 18 and 24 in 18 Arab countries, 80 percent of those surveyed consider China an ally, ranking near the top.

Over recent years, there have been several survey reports showing increasing favorable sentiments among people in Arab countries towards China. Arab friends, especially the young generation, see China as a sincere, amicable and trusted friend, Mao told the conference.

“China and Arab countries enjoy a longstanding tradition of friendly exchanges. Young people are the ones to carry forward this traditional friendship and represent the source of strength and hope for our friendly cooperation,” Mao noted.

China stands ready to work with Arab countries to continue enhancing youth exchange and cement the public foundation for building a China-Arab community with a shared future in the new era, the spokesperson added.

Read full transcript of the briefing here

https://asdaa-bcw.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/HaiWaiChuanBoBu-LiangJun_ea73dc8f4ff465fd55124924a0e04fa2.mp4
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Jul 1, 2023

Arab Youth Survey Highlights Shifting Geopolitical Allegiances – PRovoke Media report

Read the report by Maja Pawinska Sims in PRovoke Media on the 15th annual ASDA’A BCW Arab Youth Survey

DUBAI — The 15th annual Asda’a BCW Arab Youth Survey has highlighted shifting geopolitical allegiances in the Arab world, with young people across the Middle East and North Africa saying they now view Turkey and China as stronger allies of their country than the US or Russia.

The Arab Youth Survey is the largest survey of the biggest demographic in the region – with more than 2 million young people – and explores the hopes, fears and aspirations of young Arabs in 53 cities in 18 states across the Middle East and North Africa.

For the 2023 survey, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 3,600 Arab citizens aged 18 to 24 in March and April by research company SixthFactor Consulting. The cohort was split equally between men and women.

The survey covered five Gulf Cooperation Council states (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE), North Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia and, for the first time, South Sudan), the Levant region (Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestinian Territories, Syria) and Yemen.

Asda’a BCW has so far released the findings of the first of six parts of the survey, ‘My Citizenship’, under the overarching theme ‘Living a New Reality’.

In the coming weeks, the agency will publish insights from the other five themes: My Politics, revealing what young Arab say about the performance of their government; My Livelihood, detailing their views on education, jobs, and their finances; My Identity, covering religion and issues of personal identity; My Aspirations, the hopes of young Arabs for the future; and My Lifestyle, highlighting their habits, pastimes, and the media they consume.

Findings on climate change, mental health and gender rights will also be disclosed, making this year’s study the most extensive in the survey’s history.

Asda’a BCW founder and BCW MENA president Sunil John, who has led the thought leadership initiative over the past 15 years, told PRovoke Media that the Arab Youth Survey was his “passion project”: “The reason we started this 2008 is simply because if you want to understand the Arab world you need to understand the hearts and minds of youth, and there wasn’t much data on the biggest demographic in the region.

“You can literally see the Arab Spring happening in the first surveys – in 2009 the top finding was that young people wanted to live in a democracy and have a better education system – if only people had listened. There was no voice and we’ve given Arab youth a voice.

“It’s been an opportunity to create something of great value that can benefit governments, business, academics and media, and it has clearly informed policy-making across the region and business strategy development. We now present the findings to government ministers and think tanks, heads of state share results of the survey, and it’s been picked up by international media like CNN, the Financial Times and the Economist.”

In the ‘My Citizenship’ findings, 82% of Arab youth named Turkey as a ‘strong ally’ or ‘somewhat of an ally of their country’, followed by China (80%), the UK (79%), Germany (78%) and France (74%). The US ranked seventh, with 72% votes, just below India at 73%.

The US and UK, however, continue to be seen as a ‘strong ally’ by more than half of those surveyed, while two-thirds (66%) said America would be a stronger ally of their nation than Russia or China in the next five years. Russia, a top-three ally in last year’s study, now ranks in ninth place, rated as an ally by 63% of respondents, below Pakistan (69%).

At the same time, they say the US continues to exert the most influence in the Arab world. Compared to only 3% naming Turkey as having the most influence, and 4% identifying China, a third of young Arabs (33%) say the US is the most influential, followed by the UAE (11%), Saudi Arabia and Israel (both on 10%), and Russia (8%).

However, most would like the US to be less involved in Middle Eastern affairs, with nearly two-thirds across the GCC, North Africa and the Levant countries saying they ‘strongly or somewhat support’ US disengagement from the region.

In addition, the survey found that most young Arabs are pessimistic about the prospects for peace in the Palestinian Territories, and around two-thirds of young Arabs (60%) say that relations between Iran and Israel and the West will deteriorate into military conflict. Many expect the Iranian regime to become even more authoritarian in the future, with nearly a third saying Iran will experience more civil unrest and possibly a coup.

For the 12th consecutive year since young Arabs were asked to name the countries they consider ‘model nations’, they said the United Arab Emirates is the country they would most like to live in and the one they would most like their own to be like. The US and Canada were ranked second and third, respectively, for the third year running.

Three GCC nations, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, appear in Arab youth’s top-five list of model nations for the first time in nine years. Young Arab men and women now say they would rather live in Qatar than the UK, while Saudi Arabia ranks joint-fifth with the UK in their list of countries they most want their own to emulate.

Full story here
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