Exploring the Phenomenon of Youthnization of Poverty in South Africa

Indubitably, the preponderance of poverty by the youth, or the so called youthnization of poverty is a cankerworm that needs to be annihilated especially in countries of the developing world if youth participation in socio-economic development is to make a significant score in their countries. The aim of this article is, through a literature review methodology, to discuss the underpinning factors motivating the phenomenon of youthnization of poverty in South Africa. The following factors have been found to contribute to youthnization of poverty in South Africa: burgeoning statistics of unemployment; lack of infrastructural support for the youth; poor skill development among the youth; and increasing state of dependence syndrome. The following factors have been suggested to mitigate or reduce youthnization of poverty: mobilize funding for the youth, craft youth friendly policies; and countries engaging in plausible research to find out plausible ways of mitigating or annihilating youthnization of poverty altogether. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n27p1437