Research Series Issue 42: What drives rural youth welfare? The role of spatial, economic, and household factors

Most of the discourse on rural youth in developing countries lacks robust evidence on where rural youth live and how the challenges and opportunities of their location affect their welfare outcomes.

This study uses the concept of the Rural Opportunity Space from economic geography literature to shed light on these questions. Rural opportunities are expected to be shaped by commercial and agricultural potential of a location.

Findings show that most rural youth actually live in areas with high potential in terms of commercial and agricultural opportunities. Welfare outcomes depend much more strongly on commercial potential than on agricultural potential.