Stepping out of childhood

age 11-12 More schools Secondary school enrolment in the developing countries has risen faster than the school age population. So a larger proportion of adolescents is now in school - and it looks like the proportion will he even higger hy the year 2000.   1960 1980 2000 Africa 5% 21% 43% Asia 20% 30% 50% Latin America 14% 45% 67% Percentage of age group Rising literacy Literacy rates for adolescent girls are improving, but they remain lower than for boys.     1960 1980 Africa Boys 27% 52%   Girls 11% 27% Asia Boys 55% 70%   Girls 35% 47% Latin America Boys 72% 82%   Girls 63% 77% Percentage of literate over-15s Source: Summary Statistical Re view of Education, UNESCO, 1981

Selling taste

The world bought 900 million LPs in 1982, not to mention 680 million singles/EPs and 570 million music tapes. That’s a staggering $11.2 billion’s worth - and since almostall of them are produced in the West, it’s not surprising that ‘youth culture’ all over the world has a heavily Anglo-American flavour.

Who buys them:

Third World 12%
Japan 11.4%
UK 6.3%
Canada 3.3%
Australia 1.8%
NZ 0.3%
USSR 5.5%
US 32%

Who sells them:
Virtually all are produced by just 5 multinational companies: CBS. RCA. WEA, EMI and Polygram.

Permission to marry

Boy meets girl - but they can’t marry until society gives them permission: the authority of the parent is backed by the authority of law.

But society at large can also protect the young from the pressure of their elders.

. Child marriage without the consent of one or both partners is prohibited by a United Nations Convention adopted in 1962, ratified by at least 38 states. During the past generation over 50 countries have passed laws changing the age of marriage which reduce parental power:

. Parental consent is irrelevant in most Eastern European countries: the legal minimum is 18 years regardless of consent. And these countries have also introduced sexual equality: both boys and girls need to be 18 to marry.

. A young girl can no longer be married off to a much older man in the Yemen People’s Democratic Republic. Marriages where the spouses have an age differential of more than 20 years are prohibited, until the woman is over 35.

. In almost all European countries adolescents can marry below the legal minimum without parental permission - if they can persuade the courts (or government authorities) of their special circumstances.

Many countries have raised the minimum age for marriage in order to lower the population rate. In India, a Bill raising the minimum age from 15 to 18 for girls and from 18 to 21 for boys, was introduced in 1976.

But social reforms can be more effective than legal reforms in raising the actual age at which people marry. In Sri Lanka the minimum age was still legally 12 for girls and 16 for boys even in the 1970s - but the average actual age at marriage has been rising as a result of more schools and jobs for women.

Source: International Planned Parenthood Federation

The right to vote

Most societies consider adolescents old enough to vote afterthey are 18. But in some societies you also need to be male, or literate, or under 60. or have even more specialised qualifications

Source: World Fact Book