The Cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Center highlighted a report issued by the World Bank titled “How to create jobs for the world's 1.2 billion new workers”, which reveals a massive demographic wave set to reshape the global economy over the next two decades.
The report indicated that 1.2 billion young people from developing countries are expected to enter the labor market over the next 10 to 15 years, while these economies are projected to generate only 400 million jobs under current trajectories, leaving a huge gap that threatens economic, social and security stability.
It explained that the world often focuses on sudden shocks such as wars and financial crises, while overlooking slower but deeply influential forces such as demographic shifts and resource scarcity. If not managed early, these forces could become a source of long-term instability.
The report warned that failure to address these transformations would result in mounting pressure on institutions, rising illegal migration, escalating conflicts and increasing insecurity. At the same time, the report stressed that early investment in young people represents a historic opportunity to turn this challenge into a driver of growth and stability, emphasizing that the response must be global and collective rather than limited to developing countries alone.
The report highlighted the WB’s strategy, which is based on three main pillars. The first focuses on building the human and physical infrastructure necessary for private-sector growth and job creation, noting that companies cannot make sound investments without reliable electricity, efficient transportation and quality health and education services.
As an example, the report referred to the “Skill Development Center” in Bhubaneswar, India, which is supported by the government and private sector and trains around 38,000 people annually through programs aligned with labor market needs, enabling most graduates to secure jobs or establish their own businesses.
The second pillar involves improving the business environment by establishing clear rules and stable regulations that give entrepreneurs confidence to expand and invest. The report noted that small and medium-sized enterprises are the real engine of large-scale job creation, while governments are responsible for ensuring regulatory stability and providing incentive resources leaving the private sector to drive actual expansion.
The third pillar focuses on supporting companies’ expansion through financing, direct investments, guarantees, and risk management. The report cited a trade finance guarantee directed to Banco do Brasil, which provided around $700 million in concessional financing for small companies in Brazil, particularly in the agricultural sector, boosting local growth and channeling resources to sectors with the highest job-generation potential.
The report identified five sectors with strong job-creation capacity: infrastructure and energy, agri-industries, primary healthcare, tourism, and value-added manufacturing industries. It stressed that investment in these sectors could generate millions of sustainable jobs, raise productivity, and broaden the growth base.
The report also projected major transformations by 2050, with more than 85 percent of the world’s population expected to live in developing countries, marking the largest expansion of the labor force and consumer base in history. It argued that investment in job creation is not only a development necessity but also a shared interest, as prosperous developing countries would become stronger trade partners, more resilient pillars supporting supply chains and more stable societies, positively impacting developed nations while reducing migration and security pressures.