The 10 best countries in the world for young people

The Commonwealth has released the first ever index measuring the development and empowerment of young people in countries around the world.

The Youth Development Index Report (YDI) aims to uniquely measure youth development and their ability to benefit from politically stable, economically viable and legally supportive countries.

According to the overall Global Youth Development Index, Australia comes out as the number one country for youth development with a score of 0.86, followed by Canada (0.82) and South Korea (0.81), respectively.

When the data is broken down to Commonwealth countries, Australia (0.86) comes out on top yet again, this time followed by Canada (0.82) and New Zealand (0.81), respectively.

The index gauges youth development according to 15 indicators group into five domains including education, health and well-being, employment, civic participation and political participation.

In the Commonwealth list, Singapore comes in  a solid eight place with a score of 0.74, but when compared to other countries outside the Commonwealth, the city states place drops to 23^rd.

Singapore also only features in the top 10 list for one of the five categories, as the second best country for youth development in terms of employment. With a score of 0.844, it sits only just behind Pakistan in first place with a score of 0.889.

In the other four categories, New Zealand comes out on top for education; Australia comes out on top for political participation and health and well-being, and Sierra Leone comes in first place for civic participation.

Here are the top 10 overall lists:

Global Youth Development Index

1. Australia (0.86)

2. Canada (0.82)

3. South Korea (0.81)

4. Netherlands (0.80)

5. Germany (0.80)

6. New Zealand (0.80)

7. Switzerland (0.80)

8. United States (0.8)

9. Japan (0.79)

10. Slovenia (0.79)

Commonwealth Youth Development Index

1. Australia (0.86)

2. Canada (0.82)

3. New Zealand (0.80)

4. Malta (0.77)

5. United Kingdom (0.77)

6. Cyprus (0.75)

7. Jamaica (0.75)

8. Singapore (0.74)

9. Trinidad and Tobago (0.74)

10. Guyana (0.73)