Young Cameroonians are becoming increasingly disillusioned with domestic economic prospects as unemployment surges and confidence in state interventions plunges, with 60% of young people now considering leaving the country, a new Afrobarometer study reveals.<\/p>\n
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According to the report, Cameroonian youth aged 18 to 35 represent the most educated generation in the country’s history, with 80% having attained at least some secondary education. However, they face disproportionately high levels of joblessness, with 36% reporting that they are unemployed and actively searching for work.<\/p>\n
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The findings highlight a widening gap between academic qualifications and labour market needs. Young citizens cited inadequate training (23%), a mismatch between qualifications and job requirements (21%), and a lack of work experience (19%) as the primary obstacles to securing stable employment.<\/p>\n
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Dissatisfaction with government action has reached record highs. Over three-quarters (77%) of young Cameroonians believe the country is moving in the wrong direction, while 65% rate current economic conditions as bad. Only 19% approve of official efforts to generate employment, marking a steep 27% drop in approval since 2015.<\/p>\n
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Faced with shrinking opportunities at home, 61% of respondents admitted to contemplating emigration to escape financial hardship and secure better livelihoods elsewhere.<\/p>\n
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Should government resources be allocated towards youth support, 49% stated that job creation should take immediate priority, while 60% indicated a preference for starting their own businesses over entering public sector employment.<\/p>\n
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–ChannelAfrica\/Afrobarometer–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15241,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[78,44],"class_list":["post-42956","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Educated, unemployed Cameroon\u2019s youth face economic distress","published_date":"2026-08-18 13:10:37","news_description":"Educated, unemployed Cameroon\u2019s youth face economic distress","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/42956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/42956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42957,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/42956\/revisions\/42957"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=42956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}