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Youth Stats

The need for youth ministry around the world

This is why we train leaders to impact kids & families. Stats may be different around the world, but the need is the same...

Desires teens hold for their future...

  1. having a college degree (88%)
  2. having good physical health (87%)
  3. having close personal friendships (84%)
  4. having a comfortable lifestyle (83%)
  5. having one marriage partner for life (82%)
  6. having a clear purpose for living (77%)
  7. living with a high degree of integrity (71%)
  8. having a close relationship with God (66%)
  9. influencing other people's lives (56%)
    making a difference in the world (56%)
  10. having a satisfying sex life with their marriage partner (55%)
    working in a high paying job (55%)
  11. having children (54%)
  12. being deeply committed to the Christian faith (50%)
  13. living close to family and relatives (49%)
  14. being personally active in a church (43%)
  15. owning a large home (28%)
  16. owning the latest household technology and electronic equipment (27%)
  17. achieving fame or public recognition (18%)

In the next 24 hours in America...

  • 1,439 teenagers will attempt suicide
  • 2,795 teenage girls will become pregnant
  • 15,006 teenagers will use drugs for the first time
  • 2,506 teenagers will run away
  • 10 children and youth will be killed by firearms
  • 3,544 babies will be born to unwed mothers
  • 2,911 high school students will drop out of school
  • 17,297 students will be suspended from school
  • 1 young person under the age of 25 will die from an HIV related infection

Today’s family...

  • 70% of teens have daily conversations with their mothers about an important issue in their life, compared to the 53% of teens who have a similar type of conversation with their fathers.
  • Teens describe themselves as “happy” (92%); “responsible” (91%); “self reliant” (86%); “optimistic about my future” (82%); “trusting of other people” (80%); “very intelligent” (79%); and “physically attractive” (74%).
  • 40 percent of kids will go to bed in homes without a father tonight.
  • The suicide rate among teenage mothers is 10 times that of the general population.
  • There are more than 1 million teenage girls who become pregnant in the US every year.
  • 30 percent of teenage pregnancies end in abortion.
  • There are 3 million new adolescent cases of sexually transmitted diseases occurring every year.
  • Students aged 12 - 17 watch an average of 22 hours of television per week. By the time the average student graduates from high school, he or she will have watched 23,000 hours of television as compared to 11,000 hours spent in the classroom.

Spirituality and religion...

  • Nearly 9 out of 10 (89%) teens pray weekly.
  • More than seven out of ten teens are engaged in some church-related effort in a typical week: attending worship services, Sunday school, a church youth group or a small group.
  • Over half of teens (56%) attend church on a given Sunday.
  • Slightly more than half (53%) say that Jesus committed sins while He was on earth.
  • 38% of teens donate some of their own money to a church in a given week.
  • 35% of teens attend Sunday school in a given week.
  • 35% of teens read the Bible each week, not including when they are in church.
  • 32% of teens attend youth group, other than a small group or Sunday school, each week.
  • 29% of teens attend a small group each week that meets regularly for Bible study, prayer or Christian fellowship, not including Sunday school or a 12-step group.
  • 18% read from a sacred text other than the Bible in a given week.

The 7 Most Discouraging Results...

  1. Born again adults are more likely to experience a divorce than are non-born again adults (27% vs. 24%).
  2. Although women are more active in church life than are men, their levels of participation in many aspects of church life - from worship attendance to volunteerism - are significantly declining.
  3. Large proportions of the lay leaders in Christian churches hold a range of unbiblical religious views regarding the holiness of Christ, the reality of Satan, the existence of the Holy Spirit, the reality of the resurrection, and the means to salvation.
  4. Desiring to have a close, personal relationship with God ranks just sixth among the 21 life goals tested, trailing such desires as "living a comfortable lifestyle."
  5. Born again Christians spend seven times as much time on entertainment as they do on spiritual activities.
  6. Although two-thirds of all teenagers say they know all the basic teachings and principles of the Christian faith, two-thirds of them reject the existence of Satan, three-fifths reject the existence of the Holy Spirit, and half believe that Jesus sinned during His lifetime.
  7. In a representative nationwide survey among born again adults, none of the individuals interviewed said that the single, most important goal in their life is to be a committed follower of Jesus Christ.

The 7 Most Encouraging Results...

  1. Since 1996 there has been a rise in the proportion of adults who read the Bible during a typical week, from 34% to 40% in 2000.
  2. Three-fourths of all adults donated money to a church last year.
  3. Among adults who are lay leaders in their church, more than nine out of ten prioritize their faith in their life goals.
  4. Half of all unchurched and non-Christian adults admit that they are seeking meaning and purpose in their life - providing a meaningful entry point for evangelizers.
  5. Voter turnout in the 2000 presidential election was higher among born again Christians than among non-believers.
  6. The percentage of adults who earn more than $60,000 annually and have accepted Christ as their savior has nearly doubled since 1991, from 13% to 25%.
  7. In the past nine years, the percentage of Catholic adults who believes in salvation by grace alone and has accepted Jesus as their savior has grown from 16% to 24%. Denominationally, Catholics are the second-largest group of born again Christians, trailing only Baptists.

The 12 Most Noteworthy Results...

  1. A minority of born again adults (44%) and an even smaller proportion of born again teenagers (9%) are certain of the existence of absolute moral truth.
  2. 94% of black adults say that having a close, personal relationship with God is a top priority in their life; that dwarfs the proportion among white adults (67%) and Hispanic adults (74%).
  3. Among born again Christian adults, only 8% tithe their income to their church; 16% give no donations to their church throughout the year.
  4. Asian-Americans are now more likely than Hispanics to be born again (27% vs. 23%).
  5. Only 1% of all born again adults firmly concurred with each of 13 basic belief statements from the Bible. Click here for the July 12, 2000 Press Release highlighting the 13 Basic Beliefs
  6. Fewer than one-third of all teenagers are likely to attend a Christian church once they are living independent of their parents.
  7. 40% of Christian churches are virtually impossible to reach by telephone, no matter how many calls are made to those churches.
  8. Unchurched people are typically less relational than are churched people, thereby challenging the wisdom of reliance on personal relationships as the key evangelistic outreach tactic.
  9. Although most believers say that serving the needy is important to do, just 34% gave any time and money to serve the poor in the past year.
  10. Most Christians' votes were influenced more by their economic self-interest than by their spiritual and moral values.
  11. Only a minority of born again teenagers (44%) claim that they are "absolutely committed to the Christian faith."
  12. Baby Buster adults are widely regarded as highly spiritual, yet the share of 18-29 year olds within the born again population has dropped from 20% in 1991 to just 14% today.

YouthWorld • Casilla 17-17-691 • Quito, Ecuador • South America
tel +593 2 2255-254 • info@youthworld.org.ec