(Globalpost/GlobalPost)
The 5th Annual Arab Youth Survey 2013 conducted and published here Tuesday by public relation agency Asda’a Burson-Marsteller (ABM) showed the rise of confidence among young Arabs.
The survey is based on face-to-face interviews with 3,000 Arab men and women in the age group from 18 to 24 from Morocco to Iraq. Algeria, Morocco and Yemen are also among the 15 countries which were surveyed between December 2012 and January 2013.
With 60 percent of nearly 350 million Arabs under the age of 25, “it is their opinion which counts for the region’s future,” said ABM chief executive Sunil John.
The study revealed that 58 percent of the respondents were convinced that their country was “heading in the right direction”. However, the survey brought to light a trade-off between the oil-rich and wealthy countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and non-GCC states.
For example, 76 percent of the GCC respondents said “our best days are ahead of us,” in comparison with 72 percent in the non-GCC states. Nevertheless, John said that the survey revealed a rising optimism in general in the wake of the turmoil which culminated in 2011 in some Arab countries.
The gap is even bigger in relation to trust in the states. While 71 percent of Gulf Arab think their state was heading in the right direction, only 49 percent shared this view in the nine non-GCC countries.
The highest optimism was measured in the UAE where 88 percent ( up from 83 percent in 2012) said their state was heading in the right track, while in Lebanon only 37 percent (up from 21 percent) said so. Most respondents said their biggest wishes for the future are job security (88 percent), owning a home (66 percent) and living in a democratic state (61 percent).
The vast majority said their biggest influences were parents, religion and family, while pop stars or businessmen have less influence. Due to the ongoing turmoil in Syria, the country is not covered by the survey this year.
.
