Tomorrow is now

Ivorians under the age of 35, the architects of the future, represent 75% of the population. And nearly 40% are under the age of 15. That's a total of 22 million citizens – an impressive figure. This youth is a strength, an opportunity (with the much-vaunted demographic dividend for growth), but it also entails serious responsibilities: education, access to employment, mobility, etc. The government's 2023-2025 Youth Programme (PJ Gouv), with a budget of 1,118 billion CFA francs, aims to accelerate plans for training, professional integration and the promotion of entrepreneurship. The ‘Youth Employment Integration’ programme, for example, has enabled over 65,000 young people to benefit from vocational training and support for business creation. The government has also taken massive action upstream, with the creation of 648 secondary schools since 2011 and the construction of five new universities in the interior of the country. These are decentralised hubs specialising in fields suited to the regional economic ecosystem. The resilience and innovative spirit of these new generations, backed by ambitious public policies, hold the promise of a more dynamic and inclusive Côte d'Ivoire. By the middle of the century, according to projections, the population of Côte d'Ivoire will be between 45 and 50 million.