Despite President William Ruto's efforts to create employment opportunities, Kenya has been ranked lower than almost all her neighbouring countries in carving out opportunities.
The Global Youth Development Index covering 2023 released on Saturday showed that Kenya managed to outperform Somalia which ranked the poorest at position 167.
Kenya, which emerged at position 136, ranked behind Rwanda at position 117. Burundi and South Sudan tied at position 114.
Ethiopia topped the Eastern African sphere at position 55 followed by Uganda (86), Tanzania (95), and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) at position 102.
Globally, Ireland ranked top in the provision of employment and opportunities rank followed by Saint Lucia, Pakistan, Cuba, and Singapore.
"The Employment and Opportunity domain recorded the largest average improvement from 2010 to 2022, rising by 6.1 per cent," read the report in part.
"Worldwide, 155 countries improved and 28 deteriorated. Myanmar had the largest improvement, followed by Armenia, Vietnam, the Marshall Islands and Russia. Niger had the largest deterioration, followed by Afghanistan, Angola, Laos and Rwanda."
"Progress in this domain was driven largely by a 52.1 per cent improvement on the account indicator score, which measures access to bank accounts and the financial system, including mobile money," added the report.
According to the report, the Youth Development Index measured youth development based on six domains which included education, employment, equality, health as well as political participation.
"These domains, and the indicators within each domain, were decided upon through consultation with the YDI Expert Panel. To capture youth development within each country across all domains, 27 indicators were sourced.," added the report.
Since taking the reins, the Head of State embarked on a mission of connecting jobless Kenyans with jobs abroad in an effort of reducing the nation's unemployment rate.
Ruto revealed that he has negotiated hundreds of thousands of jobs across far-flung countries including Germany, Saudi Arabia and Canada.
Locally, the President revealed that his affordable housing project has unlocked 140,000 direct jobs for the youth with more expected to be rolled out.
