South Asia's youth boom: opportunity or pressure?

South Asia's young population is both an opportunity and a challenge for policymakers, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said today.

At a press conference on the Global Policy Agenda at the 2026 Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in Bangkok, the IMF said advanced economies and some emerging markets are ageing fast, while Africa and South Asia are experiencing a youth bulge, an unusually large share of young people in the population. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva was present.

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According to a Unicef report, South Asia has the world's largest population of young people, with more than 340 million adolescents and more than 700 million people under 24.

In Bangladesh, one-fourth of the population, or nearly 46 million people, are aged 15–29, making it one of the region's largest youth populations, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.

The IMF said countries with growing youth populations should prioritise investment in education, skills and health. Modernising labour markets requires expanding retraining, strengthening labour force participation, easing worker mobility and supporting workers through transitions rather than preserving specific jobs.

It called a vibrant private sector an essential engine of growth and jobs, and recommended simplifying regulations, strengthening competition and governance, expanding access to finance, and designing efficient tax systems while preserving openness to trade and investment.

The multilateral lender said the rapid adoption of AI and digital finance creates opportunities but could disrupt labour markets and widen inequality. Realising AI's benefits depends on investment in digital infrastructure, sustainable energy and skills, backed by policies that ensure productivity gains lead to broad improvements in living standards.

The IMF urged governments to reprioritise spending to protect growth-supporting investments and essential social spending.