International Youth Day: Embracing a digital and sustainable future
The International Youth Day
[https://www.un.org/en/observances/youth-day], celebrated each year on
12 August, takes a forward-thinking approach in 2024 with its theme
centred around ‘Digitalisation and Sustainable Development’. Young
individuals can lead the way towards reaching the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) [https://sdgs.un.org/goals] set by the United
Nations. While there are still challenges in accessing digital tools,
young people are the largest demographic group of users and developers
[https://social.desa.un.org/Issues/Youth/events/international-youth-day-2024?_gl=1*1sxf2ad*_ga*MTcyOTg3ODc0NS4xNzE1OTMzOTU1*_ga_TK9BQL5X7Z*MTcyMjkyOTAzNC4xMC4wLjE3MjI5MjkwMzQuMC4wLjA.]
who can shape global digital trends.   

Digital connectivity is one of the six key transitions
[https://unsdg.un.org/sites/default/files/2023-09/Six%20Transitions%20English.pdf]
defined by the UN that can have a large impact on reaching the SDGs.
The estimation is that digital technologies and data can contribute to
at least 70 per cent of the 169 SDG targets
[https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/2023-09/SDG%20Digital%20Acceleration%20Agenda_2.pdf].
At the same time, these technologies and data can potentially reduce
the cost of achieving the goals by 50 trillion euro
[https://social.desa.un.org/issues/youth/news/youth-digital-innovation-for-sustainable-development].
Our platform [https://data.europa.eu/en] gives youth access to
publicly available data from European countries, enabling them to make
informed decisions. 

The European Union (EU) has set up the Youth Action Plan (YAP)
[https://international-partnerships.ec.europa.eu/policies/youth/youth-action-plan_en]
for 2022 – 2027, to increase young people’s voices in policy and
decision-making, foster worldwide networking, and empower youth by
providing them with the necessary skills and tools. With the Youth
Empowerment Fund
[https://international-partnerships.ec.europa.eu/policies/youth/youth-empowerment-fund_en],
the EU set up a partnership of EUR 10 million to provide opportunities
for youth to develop and contribute to the SDGs in their country. To
track the YAP, a monitoring framework
[https://international-partnerships.ec.europa.eu/document/download/0ee0521d-2633-412c-be28-40bfc858287f_en?filename=youth-action-plan-monitoring-framework_en.pdf]
has been developed, building on existing data sources. 

With International Youth Day 2024, the focus is on fostering a
digitally fluent youth population that is prepared to tackle global
sustainability challenges. With the help of open data, young people
can support evidence-based decision-making and continue innovative
activities to achieve sustainable development. 

For more news and events, follow us on X/Twitter
[https://twitter.com/EU_opendata], Facebook
[https://www.facebook.com/data.europa.eu] and LinkedIn
[https://www.linkedin.com/company/publications-office-of-the-european-union/],
or subscribe to our newsletter [https://data.europa.eu/en/newsletter].

Publication Date/Time
2024-08-12T08:00:00+00:00
Highlighting youth empowerment through digital innovation