World Youth Skills Day 2025: Empowering Youth Through AI and Digital Skills
World Youth Skills Day 2025: Empowering Youth Through AI and Digital Skills
Date: July 15, 2025
World Youth Skills Day is being observed globally today, July 15, 2025, to emphasize the critical need for equipping young people with the skills essential for employment, entrepreneurship, and decent work in the modern era.
Established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2014, the day serves as a platform to foster dialogue among youth, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions, policymakers, businesses, and development partners. The collective goal is to ensure that young people are adequately prepared to meet the evolving demands of the global workforce.
Theme 2025: Youth Empowerment Through Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Digital Skills
This year’s theme highlights the growing importance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital literacy in transforming both the workplace and learning environments. As the Fourth Industrial Revolution continues to reshape global economies, it brings both new opportunities and serious challenges—especially for youth who lack access to digital training and tools.
The United Nations has raised concerns that unequal access to AI technologies and digital education could widen existing educational and economic disparities, particularly among girls and youth in low-income countries.
Key Statistics and Concerns in 2025
- Approximately 450 million youth, nearly 70%, are economically disengaged due to a lack of market-relevant skills.
- 86% of students report feeling unprepared for workplaces influenced by AI.
- As of 2022, more than 40% of young people were not engaged in employment, education, or training.
- Employment remains gender-skewed, with 40.3% of young men employed, compared to just 27.4% of young women.
- 90% of adolescent girls and young women in low-income countries are still offline.
- In developed nations, only 1 in 10 fifteen-year-olds spends more than one hour per week using digital tools for learning.
- Only 16% of countries have implemented laws addressing cyberbullying in education, with 38% of those laws introduced post-COVID-19.
Why This Day Matters
World Youth Skills Day 2025 serves as a reminder of the urgent need to reform education systems, especially TVET programs, to align with the realities of a technology-driven world. It calls for inclusive education strategies that ensure no young person is left behind during the digital transformation.
A Call to Action
This is more than just a commemorative day—it is a global call to action for:
- Governments to formulate inclusive skill development policies
- Educators and institutions to prioritize digital readiness and future-relevant learning
- Organizations and stakeholders to invest in sustainable, inclusive youth empowerment
By addressing the digital divide and prioritizing AI-readiness in education, we can build a more equitable and future-proof world for the next generation.