KYRGYZSTAN: successful youth – successful country
CHAPTER 3. VALUES 3.1. The Youth of Kyrgyzstan: Who Are They?
Kyrgyz law defines youth as “a socio-demographic group distinguished on the basis of an aggregate of age characteristics, specifics of social position, and other conditional socio-psychological characteristics determined by the social structure, culture, socialization, and child-rearing patterns of society.” Youth policy used to include everyone from 14 to 35 years old 12 – too large a group. The current NHDR has been developed in a public policy format from the outset, with numerous events and meetings, during which youth issues were discussed extensively and with the engagement of numerous stakeholders (representatives of state bodies, the parliament, the business sector, the academic community). These meetings contributed to the adoption of the new law “On the Bases of State Youth Policy,” which was adopted and signed by the president on August 14, 2009. This law lowers the age limit of the “youth” category to 28 years. The World Programme of Action for Youth up to the Year 2000 and Beyond, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1995, emphasizes that young people are the main human resource for development and the key factor in socioeconomic changes and technological innovation in any country. Youth are the country’s capital, and, therefore, the way the country addresses the needs and wants of its youth determines the course of the development of the society and the state. Young people adapt to changes much more quickly, since they are more energetic, more mobile, and less conservative than their elders. These qualities are especially important during periods of social and economic reform.
Young people participating in focus groups (FGs) conducted in the course of the development of this report defined youth:
Youth are people “with optimism and hopes who are able to take risks and follow their dreams.” (FG, Bishkek)
Kyrgyzstan is a young state. As of January 1, 2008, 39 percent of its population was between the ages of 14 and 34 (2,049,000 of the 5,224,000 people in the country).13 Two-thirds of all young people live in rural areas and one-third in urban areas; the ratio of women to men is about equal. The share of youth is practically the same in every province, but the “youngest” is Osh City, which has a population that is 43 percent youth. Forty percent of the populations of Osh, Jalal-Abad, and Batken provinces are young people; in Bishkek, it’s 39 percent; in Chui, Talas, Issyk-Kul and Naryn provinces, it’s 38 percent. To realize the full potential of Kyrgyzstan’s youth, constant channels of communication are indispensable, including studies of youth problems, and studies of different segments of youth (school and university students, employed and unemployed youth, urban and rural youth, young men and women). This kind of research has been conducted in the course of this report’s development. The authors surveyed 1,000 young people from all the provinces of Kyrgyzstan. Forty-five percent were male and 55 percent were female. More than half of those surveyed (59 percent) were not married. Seventy-five percent of the young people were Kyrgyz, 12 percent were Uzbek, 6 percent were Russian, and 7 percent were other nationalities. The distribution of respondents across the country’s regions was representative of the total youth population. About 40 percent of respondents were school or university students, 48 percent were employed, and 12 percent did not work and did not study. In other words, the sample is representative and reflects the gender and age composition of the youth population in the Kyrgyz Republic. The respondents were asked their opinions about themselves and their environment.
3.2. Opinions of Youth About the State and Society
Analysis of the transformative processes taking place in Kyrgyzstan and the other CIS countries shows that certain shifts are taking place in the collective consciousness and, first and foremost, in value orientations. This fact cannot be ignored in development of political and social programmes. A deepening differentiation between – and sometimes even confrontation between – completely different points of view on our past, our current problems, preferred paths to development, and attitudes toward innovation, dictate a need for systematic studies of the values of the society in general and specific social groups, in particular. This is especially important for youth, since they are the most dynamic and promising socio-demographic group.
12 “Law on State Youth Policy,” as of February 26, 2000.
A distinctive feature of this report is the fact that the authors looked at components of human development (health, education, social activity, etc.) through the prism of values. Because it is values
13 Demographic Yearbook of the Kyrgyz Republic. Statistical collection. Bishkek, 2008.