Rising costs of living biggest challenge for Arab youth

Young Arabs have named the rising cost of living as the single biggest challenge facing the Arab world today, according to a Middle East-wide survey released Tuesday.

Nearly half – 48 percent – of respondents in the third annual ASDA’A Burston-Marsteller Arab Youth Survey said rising rents and food prices were a major concern.

Among those in the Gulf, the figure rose to 54 percent.

Some 68 percent of respondents in protest-hit Bahrain, where demonstrations are entering their sixth week, said rising prices were a primary worry.

In Saudi Arabia, which suffers from a significant lack of affordable housing and jobs for its 22 million population, the figure rose to 58 percent.

The survey of youngsters aged 18 to 24 in ten Middle Eastern countries showed widespread support for the uprisings sweeping the region.

An initial 2,000 interviews were carried out between December 2010 and January. A further 500 interviews were conducted in February and March following the political unrest in the region, in

Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Bahrain and Iraq.

Among those polled in the second round of interviews, 71 percent said rising living costs were a key catalyst for the uprisings seen in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and other Middle East states.

The ability to earn a fair wage also featured strongly in the respondents lives. Some 72 percent of those polled said a good salary was a key concern, up from 62 percent in 2010.

In Kuwait, 80 percent of youths surveyed said a fair wage was very important.

Across the region, 41 percent said they were worried about their standard of living, and 43 percent were concerned about access to a reliable electricity supply.

A lower number – 23 percent- were concerned about the quality of education and 33 percent cited concerns about the shortage of good quality healthcare.