Has Democracy Been Good for the Youth? 1

D) In 2020, the Center for the Future of Democracy, published a research report titled “Youth, and the future of democracy.” The report observed among many things, the following – a) a decline in satisfaction with democracy among the youth, mentioning sub-Saharan Africa as one of four regions experiencing notable declines; b) economics explains the discontent; and c) in emerging democracies like s. [...] In other areas, delivery needs improvement (providing water and sanitation services), while in other areas delivery has been poor (creating jobs, improving the living standards of the poor, and narrowing the income gaps between the rich and the poor). [...] The four biggest areas of decline are a) improving the living standards of the poor (-37 percentage points), b) providing water and sanitation services (-28 percentage points), c) creating jobs (-26 percentage points), and d) narrowing income gaps between the rich and poor (-24 percentage points). [...] In the maiden edition (1999) of the survey, fifty-two percent (52%) said they were satisfied with the way democracy works in Ghana. [...] This is concerning especially because there is certainty about the extent of democracy in the country given the percentage who answered “don’t know” in 2002 compared to 2022.