Context

• India is home to the world's largest youth population. On World Population Day 2025, this editorial emphasizes the urgent need to invest in education, health, skill development, and reproductive rights of adolescents-especially girls-to unlock their potential and accelerate India's inclusive and sustainable growth. 

Background

• India has 371 million youth (15–29 years) - the world's largest.
• If equipped with education, health, and skills, youth can boost India's GDP by $1 trillion by 2030 (NITI AayogWorld Bank).
• The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) affirms youth's right to informed sexual and reproductive choices.
• The UN's 2025 World Population Day theme focuses on empowering youth to create the families they want in a fair and hopeful world.

Initiatives 

• Project Udaan (Rajasthan, 2017-22): Prevented 30,000 child marriages and 15,000 teenage pregnancies.
• Advika Programme (Odisha, since 2019-20): 11,000 villages declared child marriage-free.
• Project Manzil (Rajasthan, 2019-25): Gender-sensitive skill development and behavioural change strategies. 
• Government Schemes: - Beti Bachao Beti Padhao - National Adolescent Health Programme.

Challenges Highlighted 

• Persisting Child Marriage and Teenage Pregnancy: Despite progress, 23.3% of girls are still married before 18 (NFHS-5), and 7% of adolescent girls face teenage pregnancies.
• Regional disparities remain stark, reflecting uneven socio-economic development and enforcement gaps.
• Crisis of Reproductive Autonomy: 36% face unintended pregnancies; 30% have unmet reproductive goals (UNFPA, 2025), indicating restricted reproductive agency.
• Gender Inequality and Harmful Social Norms: Patriarchal norms constrain girls' education, freedom, and access to health and career opportunities.
• Inadequate Youth-Centric Infrastructure: Dropouts, lack of vocational training, poor career guidance, and weak health systems especially in rural areas, undermine the youth potential.
• Low Female Labour Force Participation (FLFP): Women face skill mismatches, unsafe or unsupportive workspaces, and bear the burden of unpaid care work.

Way Forward

• Invest in Comprehensive Adolescent Empowerment: Expand secondary education (every extra year reduces child marriage risk by up to 6% - UNICEF). Integrate sexual and reproductive health (SRH) education, nutrition, and mental health into adolescent programmes.
• Promote Rights-Based and Multi-Sectoral Interventions: Ensure universal access to contraception, safe abortion, infertility care, maternal health.
• Foster Economic Empowerment of Young Women: Align skill development with aspirations (e.g., human-centered design approach of Project Manzil). Support gender-responsive employment and entrepreneurship opportunities.
• Scale Proven Models with State and Local Ownership: Expand successful models like Udaan, Advika and Manzil nationwide. Ensure strong state capacity, local partnerships, and youth participation in design and implementation.
• Recognise Youth as Drivers of Development: Bring youth voices and aspirations to the policy table. Shift from viewing youth as beneficiaries to agents of change in shaping India's development journey.