I. PROFILE 

Definition

Ø      RA 8044: Youth as persons aged 15 to 30 years old

Ø      PD 603: Youth as persons below 21 years old

Ø      WHO: Those between 15-24 years old

Ø      UNCRC & UNICEF: “Children” as young persons falling      below 18 years old

Ø      PSYCHO-SOCIAL DEFINITION: Describes the Adolescence and early adulthood phases of a young person’s life (E. Maslang, MTYDP of the National Parliament, 2004).

Ø      RA 8044 is the prevailing standard by which we define youth in the Philippines.   

II. STATISTICS 

YOUTH POPULATION 

            Source: *NSO; **NYC Projection  

EMPLOYMENT

 Ø      According to DOLE, the incidence of child labor increases at a rate of 3.8% per year, and youth involved in this are usually subjected to the worst of circumstances – from child slavery, forced labor, trafficking, debt bondage and serfdom, to prostitution, to pornography, and other forms of dangerous and abusive work. 

EDUCATION 

IN-SCHOOL YOUTH

Source: * DepEd 2004; ** CHED 2004; *** TESDA 2004 

OUT-OF-SCHOOL YOUTH

Source: APIS-NSO 2002  

OTHER DATA

Ø      DepED and CHED: Many Filipino students across different school level may not have the competencies required for them to advance to the next educational level, or to handle the challenges of employment.

Ø      Diagnostic Tests conducted by DepEd in 2002, only 40% of students in Grade Three have mastered competencies in English, Science and Math for that year level.

Ø      A CHED Memorandum states that the drop-out rate for tertiary level studies is 20.8%, with more poor students (30.8%) dropping out of school than non-poor students (16.8%).

Ø      A large number of baccalaureate graduates in the Philippines are regarded as unqualified or under qualified to handle professional work.   

HEALTH  

HIV/AIDS INFECTED YOUTH (Reported Cases)

DRUG-DEPENDENT YOUTH (Reported Cases)

Risk Behaviors (2002 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study, YAFS3 Survey)Drugs, Drinking & Smoking 

Ø      The Philippines had 3.4 million drug dependents as of 2002. More than half of these drug dependents were within 15 to 27 years old.

Ø      Almost 2 million young people in the Philippines have tried illegal substance

Ø      Aside from being dependent on drugs, many Filipinos are also involved with smoking and drinking.

Ø      86% of young Filipinos had tried smoking, drinking, and taking drugs at least once.

Ø      5 out of 6 adolescents smoke and drink regularly. Sexual Risk

Ø      YAFS3 Survey: 23.1% of all youth respondents have had pre-marital sex, with more males (31.3%) having done so than females (15.7%).

Ø      21% practiced contraception

Ø      34.8% have had sex with  more than one partner

Ø      4% approves abortion

Ø      12% has, at one time or another, thought of committing suicide

Ø      The incidence of pre-marital sexual activity remained higher among males and among members of the older age group (20-24). 

Hence,

Ø      Of the 16.5 million young people in the Philippines as of 2002…    1.8 million have tried dangerous drugs; 9.2 million have tried smoking;   11.6 million have drunk alcoholic beverages; 3.8 million young Filipinos have engaged in pre-marital sex, with almost 80 percent of them practicing unprotected sex; 2 million young Filipinos have though of committing suicide 

Ø      According to YAPS 2004 study (UP Population Institute): 62% of reported STI cases and 29% of HIV/AIDS cases involved the youth;     Youth pregnancies accounted for 30% of all births, 6% of spontaneous abortions, and 3 out of 4 maternal deaths. 

SPECIFIC YOUTH GROUPS 

MUSLIM YOUTH

    Source: YAPS, 2004  

DIFFERENTLY-ABLED YOUTH

    Source: NSO, 2000 

YOUTH IN CONFLICT WITH THE LAW/YOUTH OFFENDER

    Source: DSWD 2004    

III. OTHER ISSUES AFFECTING THE YOUTH 

Pornography

Ø      The Department of Social Welfare and Development reported that access to pornographic videotapes and reading paraphernalia were the major factor of the rise of sexual abuse in Central Luzon.

Ø      The current advancements in technology contribute to the upsurge of pornography in the country. 

Ø      In 2002, Filipino Internet users are estimated at two million, barely three percent of the entire population of 76.5 million.  Majority, according to a survey by AC Nielsen Philippines in 2000, are from the younger age group – one in three are teenagers or in their 20s. 

Ø      In 1996, 492 of 3,776 reported cases of child abuse involved pornography, prostitution, pedophilia and trafficking. There were 8,335 cases of child abuse from 1991-1996, 96% of the victims were females. (Department of Social Welfare and Development, "375,000 Filipino Women & Kids Are Into Prostitution," Philippine Daily Inquirer, 26 July 1997) [1] 

Ø      About 25 tabloids, half of them carrying sensational sex stories and lewd photos of nude or seminude women on their front pages, are peddled everyday in the streets of Metropolitan Manila. [2] 

Corruption

Ø      ADB study revealed that the Philippines ranked second among 102 countries in terms of the magnitude of irregular payments, including bribery, in public contracts[3].

Ø      The PERC Report for 2005 placed the Philippines as the 2^nd most corrupt country in Asia after Bangladesh[4].

Ø      In 2004, the Transparency International placed the Philippines among the countries which ranked as the 11th most perceived-corrupt country out of 146 countries surveyed. Joining the Philippines in the category are Vietnam, Eritrea, Papua New Guinea, Uganda and Zambia[5].

Ø      The Philippine Corruption Perception Index from 1999 to 2004 shows that, over time, our ranking has deteriorated from relatively in the middle to near the bottom of the ranking from among 100 countries around the world (Table 1). These indicate that, certainly, we can never ignore the vile of corruption, which is undermining the social and political development of our country.                            

Philippine Corruption Perception Index

Ø      The US investment bank Morgan Stanley calculated that the country had been milked of $204 billion between 1965 and 2001[6].

Ø      The Commission on Audit said that more than two billion pesos are lost annually due to corruption.   Economic Crisis[7] 

Ø      Philippine Gross Domestic Product (GDP) slowed down to 4.8% in the second quarter of 2005 – 1.7% lower than the 6.5% GDP growth recorded in the same period last year.

Ø      The growth of Gross National Product (GNP) in the second quarter likewise weakened to 4.7% from 7.4% increase in the same period last year.

Ø      While the Philippines GDP growth of 4.8% in the 2^nd quarter surpassed that of other Asian countries like Malaysia (4.1%), South Korea (3.3%), and Taiwan (3.0%), it still lagged behind Singapore (5.2%), Indonesia (5.5%), and China (9.5%).