The world's population veers younger than ever before, with 1.8 billion people between the ages of 10 and 24.
This major demographic shift is part of the reason the United Nations has chosen to focus on youth as one of its 17 proposed Sustainable Development Goals, which aim to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all by the year 2030.
With this increased emphasis, we decided to take a closer look at the world's interest in youth-related search topics. The following map, provided by Google Trends, shows how different countries rank based on their volume of related searches over the past 12 months.
Results at both extremes of the rankings are divided largely along geographical lines. Five of the top 10 highest-ranked countries are located in Africa, with more than half of the lowest-ranked countries located in or around the Middle East.
Countries with the most youth-related searches
Samoa
Swaziland
Botswana
Bhutan
Liberia
Vanuatu
Dominica
Lesotho
American Samoa
Kenya
Countries with the least youth-related searches
Iraq
Turkey
Iran
France
Algeria
Libya
New Caledonia
Reunion
Syria
Vietnam
Of all the global Google searches related to youth over the past year, questions regarding violence and health ranked among the top 10 related queries.
In fact, questions about violence have been the top-searched youth social issue for five of the past 10 years, and have placed as one of the top 10 questions asked about youth for nine out of the past 10 years -- more than any other social issue.
Top global searches on youth
What is youth?
What age is youth?
Who said ‘youth is wasted on the young’?
What does the bible say about youth?
What are the causes of youth violence?
How many young people try smoking for the first time each day?
What can I do about youth violence?
How do I become a youth counselor?
Why do youth join gangs?
Why do young people get cancer?
2015's fourth most-asked question -- "What does the bible say about youth?" -- was the first faith-based question to make the list since 2010. Between 2005 and 2010, questions regarding youth and religion appeared every year except one.
Previously popular questions that no longer rank among top searches include, "Why do young people take drugs?" "How does the media influence young people?" and "Why should young people vote?"
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