Mapping Youth Policies: Designing a new Youth Governance Index (YGI)
Abstract: This paper examines the methodological foundations and recent innovations in the global mapping of youth policies, an area of governance that has gained increasing prominence in recent years. As governments worldwide prioritize youth development, understanding the structure, implementation, and evaluation of youth policies across diverse contexts is crucial. Conducting a state-of-the-art review, the paper assesses existing indicators related to youth policies, highlighting their reliance on -based indicators. These indices are mostly focused on performance data and do not take into consideration the broader governance frameworks that underpin youth policy. To address this gap, the paper introduces and develops the Youth Governance Index (YGI) designed to capture the institutional, legal, and strategic instruments employed by governments in youth policy. Unlike other indicators, the YGI focuses on the governance architecture that shapes policy design and implementation. This approach enables both comparative mapping and typological classification of youth policy instruments, offering a clearer picture of governance frameworks across countries.