World Bank President Ajay Banga has warned that the world’s surging youth population could become a source of instability rather than progress unless governments take urgent and coordinated action to create jobs and economic opportunity.
Speaking during the 2025 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group, Banga said Africa’s demographic explosion presented both “an unprecedented opportunity and a looming risk,” cautioning that failure to act could turn youthful optimism into despair.
“Without purposeful effort, their optimism risks turning into despair, fueling instability, unrest, and mass migration, with implications for every region and economy,” he said.
The World Bank chief described the coming decades as “one of the great demographic shifts in human history,” noting that by 2050, more than 85 per cent of the world’s population would live in countries currently considered developing.
He warned that over the next 10 to 15 years, about 1.2 billion young people will enter the global workforce — competing for only 400 million jobs. “Four young people will step into the workforce every second over the next ten years,” Banga said. “The scale of the challenge is staggering.”
According to him, the fastest population growth is expected in Africa, which will be home to one in four people by 2050. Nigeria alone, he projected, would add around 130 million people, cementing its position as one of the most populous nations on earth.
“These young people, with their energy and ideas, will define the next century,” Banga said. “With the right investments focused on opportunity, not need, we can unlock a powerful engine of global growth.”
He stressed that job creation must sit “at the centre of every development, economic and national security strategy,” warning that neglect could drive mass discontent and migration.
The World Bank, he revealed, has expanded its financial capacity by $100bn through new instruments and partnerships, while its co-financing platform now includes 175 projects worth $23bn. The Bank is also advancing its IFC2030 strategy to mobilise private capital for developing economies.
Nigeria’s population, currently about 237.5 million according to the UN Population Fund, is already Africa’s largest. But with a projected surge of 130 million in 25 years, the country’s demographic trajectory is outpacing its economic capacity.
Over 60 per cent of Nigerians are under 25, yet youth unemployment exceeds 33 per cent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Economists have long warned that without rapid industrialisation, investment in skills, and reforms to attract private enterprise, the country’s demographic dividend could easily turn into a demographic crisis.
Banga’s warning, delivered against the backdrop of widening inequality and global unrest, was a stark reminder that the world’s future stability may depend less on population size — and more on how governments choose to empower their young.
