The fifteenth annual ASDA’A BCW Arab Youth Opinion Poll, which was issued by “ASDA’A BCW” and announced minutes ago, revealed today that all Emirati youth participating in the poll are confident in their government’s ability to achieve economic stability. The poll also monitored high levels of confidence of Gulf youth in the economic management of their governments.
The results of the poll showed that 98% of Emirati youth are confident in their government’s ability to address the problem of unemployment. This was supported by youth in the rest of the GCC countries, with a rate ranging between 70% and 61%.
Young people, male and female, in the GCC countries also expressed their confidence in the ability of their governments to tackle corruption, as their percentage reached 97% in the UAE, while the percentage in the rest of the GCC countries ranged between 84% and 56%.
The survey was conducted by ASDA’A BCW during the period from March 27 to April 12, 2023, and included 3 thousand and 600 personal interviews conducted by experienced interviewers from the Sixth Factor Consulting Company with Arab young men and women between the ages of 18-24 years. Last June, ASDA’A BCW revealed the main findings of the topic “My Global Citizenship”, which is the first among the six topics explored in the survey.
Today’s announcement deals with the results related to two topics, “My Orientations” and “My Livelihood”, about which the results of the survey revealed a divergence of opinions between the youth of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and their peers in the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa.
In answering the question of how to deal with the problems of the high cost of living, 98% of Emirati youth said that they are confident in their government’s ability to address the high cost of living, with the percentage ranging between 66% and 57% in the rest of the GCC countries.
Regarding the problem of climate change, Gulf youth also expressed confidence in the ability of their governments to confront climate change, as their percentage reached 97% in the UAE, 75% in Saudi Arabia, 80% in the Sultanate of Oman, 77% in Bahrain, and 66% in Kuwait, as confirmed by 83%. % of the Gulf youth say that their countries are moving in the healthy direction with regard to solving the problems of climate change.
In addition, the results of the survey showed that about two-thirds of Arab youth outside the GCC region do not trust their governments’ ability to address the most important problems they face, the most prominent of which is the high cost of living. The head of “BCW” in the Middle East and North Africa region and founder of “ASDA’A BCW”: Sunil John said that the most prominent feature of this year’s poll is the sharp division again between the Gulf youth and their peers in the countries of North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean.
He added that the prevailing spirit of optimism among Gulf youth revealed that achieving such a future is possible, and that three-quarters of Gulf youth say that their voice is important to the leaders of their countries, compared to only a third of young people in North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean. This means a lot and shows that the governments of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries really understand the pulse of their youth.
In the coming weeks, ASDA’A BCW will publish results related to the remaining three topics covered in the survey, namely, “My Identity” which covers youth attitudes towards religion and personal identity; and “My Future Aspirations,” which reflects the future hopes of Arab youth; and “My Lifestyle,” which highlights their habits, pastimes, and media they follow. Results related to climate change, mental health, and gender rights will be revealed later; That makes this year’s survey the most comprehensive in survey history. All of these results fall under the theme “A New Reality and a Changing Perspective,” which Asdaa BCW adopted as the main title for the fifteenth edition of its survey.
