The findings of a recent Arab youth survey provided the world a window into the minds of the region's largest demographic group that makes up 60 per cent of the region's 300 million Arab population.
Government and media experts came together to debate the findings of the Asda'a Burson-Marsteller Arab youth survey conference last week. Campus Notes takes a look at what Arab students, academics and experts have to say about the findings.
The survey was conducted with 2,000 Arab participants aged 18-24 in nine countries — the UAE, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon. It addressed their habits, beliefs and attitudes towards themselves and the world at large.
Debating employment
Nearly 50 per cent of youth surveyed in the nine countries expressed a preference for establishing future careers in the government sector.
More than 60 per cent of UAE youth expressed the same desire which is believed to stem from a mindset of job security and "psychological pampering".
"I think this issue of mindset is part of a bigger picture in the Arab world," said Najla Al Awadi, Deputy CEO of Dubai Media Incorporated and Member of the UAE Federal National Council.
"We need to instil in our young people the drive to become entrepreneurs. To take risks in life and not to go the direction of depending on the government to solve their problems," she added.
Ali F. Mostafa, an independent filmmaker and director of City of Life, the UAE's first home-grown film, said "psychological pampering" among Emirati youth may have played a role in the apparent lack of professional motivation.
"There is a thin line between being protected or looked after and being pampered," he said.
Mostafa used an example of his encounters with Emirati youths wanting to become film directors fresh out of university without climbing the ranks.
"I find that psychological pampering might have been the reason for it. We need to address the mindset of a welfare society with the belief that everything should be given for free," said Najla. "We need to work on our young people so they can wake up from that dream."
Impact of the global financial crisis
One in four youths in Egypt felt the impact of the global financial crisis more than their peers in the region. Youths in Qatar were the most positive, as 63 per cent of them said they, their families and friends remained unscathed by redundancies, compared to 38 per cent of the youths in the UAE.
Only three per cent of the youths surveyed said they had lost their jobs since the recession. However, Lubna Qasim, a UAE lawyer and legal reform specialist believes one of the biggest challenges facing the Arab world today is the underemployment of its youth.
Lubna said the economic slowdown hit the Middle East at a time when the total share population of the youth was at its highest, with 32 per cent of the population between the ages of 15-29. "It's ironic because this is time where the Arab youth are the healthiest, the most educated and the best the region has ever witnessed," she said.
Youth spending and debt
The survey showed Arab youth have a tendency to spend the majority of their money on personal items and interests such as clothes, mobile phone calls, dining out and books. However, 26 per cent said they had accumulated some form of personal debt, 40 per cent of which is owed on credit cards. Saudi Arabian youth have the most debt owing, with 52 per cent saying they had accumulated personal debt. "We see a lot of ‘keeping up with the Joneses' on campuses, especially in the GCC," said Nao Valentino, manager of the entrepreneurship centre at Dubai Women's College. "It seems students want what everybody else has."
"In times when it is easier to get credit, people live beyond their means," she said, which is what has happened to the indebted Arab youth. However, compared to their Western counterparts the priorities of their spending vary. "Federal education in the US is not free like it is here [in the UAE]. So instead of students at federal universities paying for books, rent and tuition they have more disposable income to spend on the things they want," she said.
Global citizens
Arab youth ranked France as their favourite country followed by China. Global citizenship was important to seven in 10 young people surveyed. The highest scores belonged to those living in the UAE, where 52 per cent said global citizenship was very important to them.
Concerns over the rise of extreme Islamist movements and Middle East and international conflicts came at the bottom of a list of 20 priority concerns in the survey.
Najla sees this as a problem. "There is a problem if they are not thinking about those issues because they are very real in our society," she said. "We don't need the West to tell us about extremism happening in neighbouring countries...these are our problems. If the youth aren't aware of them then we need to worry about their apathy or lack of awareness about serious issues facing our region," she added.
Education
A higher quality of education for Arab youth is imperative to the future of the region as they constitute a majority of the population, said Najla. Although the recent survey showed optimism among Arab youth, illiteracy remains prevalent.
"We have the highest population growth rate in the world with almost 40 per cent of the population in our part of the world under the age of 15," said Najla. "While we have a lot of young people out there to give back to society we also face challenges," she added.
She said according to the United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank and the Arab League, illiteracy remains around 30 per cent on average in Arab countries and climbs to 60 per cent in some places. "Linked to illiteracy is the quality of education in our part of the world," said Najla.
Media and technology
More than 50 per cent of the youth surveyed say they use the internet at least once a day.
The top two activities listed were listening to music and accessing e-mail. Downloading music and watching films or video clips online came in third and fourth.
Jordan, Lebanon and the UAE ranked highest for news consumption by the youth, with 75 per cent of the UAE youth saying they updated themselves on news and current affairs at least once a day.
Interestingly, television was the number one trusted source of news amongst the youth, which is not surprising as 66 per cent of youth ranked watching television as their favourite leisure activity.
"The survey shows a majority spends most of their time watching television and television is not really reality," said Abdul Rahman Al Rasheed, general manager of Al Arabiya television.
"This will be a real challenge for the region's youth because it will make them expect and demand more, creating a divide between what is available in reality and what they are hoping for," he added.
