The New Nation - Internet Edition

Rahul Sharma

Generally youth across the world should be the same, with iPods stuck in their ears, zillions of hours spent surfing the Internet, battling with parents in the growing years and worrying about their future.

But it seems that that Arab youth are considerably different. Not only are they more positive, but also optimistic compared to their Western counterparts.

A recent study shows that religion is hugely important to Arab youth as is their national identity and traditional values. They also admire their religious, political and business leaders much more than folks their age in Western countries where one of the most likeable politicians to emerge in recent times seems to be US President-elect Barack Obama. He literally rode the youth vote to power.

The findings are not surprising.

A common religion binds the region, as much as strong family ties. Most Arabs have extended families and filial ties go back centuries when tribes ruled various parts of the region, working with each other to their benefit through marriages and other business and political agreements.

Some of that continues even today. But overall the study a first real attempt to understand the difference between Arab and Western youth - throws up interesting issues and questions, the answers to which could well define the direction Arab youth, and therefore the region itself, would move in the years to come.

It's important to understand the minds of Arab youths if only because they form a substantial chunk of the population in the Middle East at a time when developed Western and some Asian societies are ageing fast.

The numbers are startling. The youth bulge in the Arab world is massive - one in five people in the Middle East is between the age of 15 and 24. In Saudi Arabia 38 per cent of the population is below 14.

The average citizen is only 21 years old! Compare that with the West. In the United Kingdom only 14 per cent of the population is below 14 and the average citizen is 40. It is widely believed that one in five Americans will be more than 65 years of age by 2040, putting huge pressure on the country's economy as it struggles to provide pensions and healthcare to people.

Japan, the most developed society in Asia, suffers from a similar ageing malaise with one in five now over 60. Nearly two million people in Japan are over 80, with an increasing number spending time in nursing homes and health centres.

A young population can be to the region's advantage if it is properly educated and channelled, failing which Arab nations might find themselves sitting on a social bomb as millions of young minds swing between modernity and traditional value systems that defines them.

One of the issues that jumps out of the survey conducted by Asda'a Burson Marstellar is the role of religion among youth in Arab countries. Some 68 per cent of the Middle East youth say that religion defines them as a person against merely 16 per cent in the West.

Religion also appears to influence their outlook in life more than among the young people in the West. This might worry some but let's be fair.

In the West most people have run away from religion, choosing the materialistic world in their attempt to get ahead.

In the Arab world religion is viewed as something to embrace rather than run away from.

It's part of growing up; it's part of daily life and therefore important. Similarly, the survey showed that a sharply higher percentage of Arab youth - 31 per cent - claimed they admire religious leaders against just five per cent of Western youth. They also have a higher feel-good view of government and business leaders.

The difference could lie in the way many Arab monarchies have tried to improve the quality of life of their people by pushing their oil wealth in education, social and economic programmes.

In the West, politicians and businessmen are largely seen as selfish, unable to share their gains with those down the ladder.

The gender divide, however, leaps out of the survey. The Arab and Western male youth have a hugely divergent view about whether men and women should have equal opportunities in the workplace.

According to the survey based on 1,800 interviews in the Middle East and the West, 79 per cent of male youth in the West said they should against 58 per cent of their Arab counterparts.

At the end of the day, however, adolescents would be adolescents, looking at their families and peers for guidance and help in the time of need. The survey supports that as consumer and lifestyle habits of Arab and Western youths are very similar; they both spend a large chunk of their disposable income on going out and looking good.