Youth unemployment, which according to the standard UN definition refers to persons aged between 15 and 24, accounts for almost half of total unemployment worldwide. By contrast, this age group represents only about 25 per cent of the working age population. Moreover, in many developing countries youth underemployment is a more pressing problem, i.e. young people often have to work under precarious working conditions with little chance to lift themselves out of poverty. That is why the BMZ has considered it useful to elaborate, on the basis of past and present project experience, this discussion paper focussing on an integrated, three-dimensional approach to mitigate youth unemployment and underemployment.
http://www.bmz.de/en/service/infothek/fach/diskurs/diskurs007en.pdf