By LAURIENT YVES CAISIP

Carefree, vocal, little patience, the need for immediate results, esteem drawn from external validation, giving opinions even without valid legitimate sources—these are some of the many reasons Gen Zs have issues of mental health.

Search the web for the word youth and you will see millions of definitions, articles, and writeups. But have you heard the word “Youthquake?”

If you haven’t, it may be because it only appeared in the Oxford Dictionary in 2017 when it was awarded “Word of the Year.”

What does youthquake mean? Oxford Dictionary defines it as “a significant cultural, political. or social change arising from actions and influence of the young people.” A very recent example is the election to power of a very young vice president in Indonesia. To win, the campaign strategy was directed toward the youth to get majority of their votes. Locally speaking, the youth voters outnumbered the elders during the 2022 election.

Millennials and Gen Zs made up 56 percent of the registered voters in the Philippines. That percentage is enough to change the political landscape of the country—that is also another example of a youthquake.

The world is heading for an African Youth Quake in 2050. While the US, Europe, and Asia are getting old, the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) is as young as ever. It will overtake China, US, Europe, and Asia in terms of youth population in 2050. All three major regions I mentioned are having a decline in population, embracing DINK (double income no kids) lifestyle or minimizing children in the newly formed families.

Majority of the countries in those regions are secular with no regards to religious teaching of being open to life (the belief to accept the number of children each family is destined to have). Their governments are aggressively campaigning for sex education and birth control. In some countries, abortion is even legal. All these reasons contribute to the rich nations getting older.

Africa’s population, however, is dominated by the youth.

Rich countries intentionally delay marrying age. Take, for example, South Korea, where you see people in their late 30s and early 40s getting married for the first time, which results to fewer number of children being born every year.

The Philippines, though populous, has seen a fertility rate decline from 2.7 in 2017 to 1.9 in 2023, thanks to the campaign and program of the Commission on Population (POPCOM).

The world fertility rate is below 2, which means it is below the replacement fertility rate. Africa’s fertility rate is 4.5

The median age in Africa is 19, the Philippines 25, the US and China 38. In 2030, Africa will have the largest workforce in the world, overtaking the currently big populous nations in the world such as US, China, India, and the Philippines.

In the 2040s, 40 percent of newborns will come from the MENA region. By 2050, one in five people in the world will be from MENA. North Africa youth (15 to 25 year old) will make up 33 percent.

The world is getting old but North Africa will remain young. It will have an impact on the world’s economy, global world trade, geopolitics, language, religion, lifestyle, and culture. Whatever is the current religion in Africa now may even dominate the world.

Africa has a steady supply of investors—China, Europe. The US, they all know this phenomenon and think ahead for longevity of business. Forget about Asia—Africa is poised to be a potential mega market.

All these talk about probable data of the 2040 and 2050 will create a new set of questions. Gen Z (born in 1997-2012) may be the demographic that can create a youthquake. By 2050, Gen. Z will hold all the important decision-making positions in businesses. They will run governments. They will be the adults of the world.

Can you imagine the world being ruled by Gen Zs? What’s the typical characteristic of a Gen Z? Carefree, vocal, little patience, the need for immediate results, esteem drawn from external validation, giving opinions even without valid legitimate sources—these are some of the many reasons Gen Zs have issues of mental health, and generally are mentally weaker compared to the generation born during the World War where the primary concern was survival, how to gain independence, nation building, how to get by with very little that gave the Boomers long patience.

It seems Gen Z has no patience to wait for results, no appetite for struggle, no actual experiences on how to get out of trouble on their own, no tolerance for difference in opinions.

Will the world be ruled in peace and order with the character of these people who will hold important positions in the 2040s and 2050s?

Every generation finds a way to survive, as it is human instinct to go to on self-preservation mode even in times of chaos. I do not know how Gen Z will rule the world when it is their time, but one thing is for sure—It will be fun to watch.