For years now Somalia has experienced a data vacuum. Given how demographically young the country is the lack of information about the youth has been felt particularly strongly. By providing the most basic information, as well as more detailed information from the Adolescent and Youth Report, we believe we can now make decisions that will have a positive impact on the lives of the Somali youth. The data and perspectives being presented in this report tells us more about how many young people there are, where and how they live, and what the Government and its partners can do to invest in the large youthful population and protect their rights to drive economic and social development.

I wish to acknowledge, with much gratitude, the Ministry of Planning and the staff from the Directorate of National Statistics (DNS) for the Federal Government of Somalia, in particular Abdirahman Omar Dahir, DNS Director General, Mohamed Moalim, the former DNS Director General and the Senior Advisors to the DNS, Nur Weheliye and Ahmed Elmi for their continuous support and collaboration in putting this booklet together.

This project would not have been possible without the un- wavering support of the donors and international community, in particular Department for International Development (DfID) - UKaid and the Embassy of Sweden, who have helped to turn Somalis’ dreams into reality by funding such an extensive, objective and informative survey – that collects information on individuals and households. I would also like to acknowledge the dedication and high professionalism of the UNFPA Somalia staff, led by Mariam Alwi, who worked tirelessly to provide technical guidance and support to the Minis- try of Planning in compiling the information for this booklet.

My greatest appreciation goes to all the households; men and women who were interviewed at different phases of the col- lection of data. Their cooperation is truly appreciated.

Nikolai Botev,

UNFPA Somalia Representative