Here are some various facts about our generation of teenagers, and why we need to act fast and help our peers:

• There are over 1 billion young people ages 15 to 25 today. Young people that are 24 years old and under make up almost 40% of our world population.
• Most youth live in Asia and the Pacific. More than 60% of today’s youth thrive in Asia.
• Some of the risks that today’s teens face are lack of education, early pregnancies and marriages, and risks of HIV, AIDS, and other diseases. Together, we can increase the knowledge of today’s teens, so that we can all understand the risks involved with our generation, as well as help encourage today’s teens to live healthier lives to the best of their abilities.
• Youth in developing countries account for 85% of the world youth population.Almost half of those youth live in low income families. Only a fifth of that percentage of youth live in high or middle income families.
• About 240 million youth live on less than 1 dollar a day, which 465 million live on less than 2 dollars a day.
• About 110 million youth are starving in countries classified as highly poor.
• 130 million youth are illiterate.
• 41% of unemployed people in the world are youth.
• One-third of those with HIV/AIDS are youth. About 2 million youth have HIV/AIDS; More than 7 million of those affected are young women.
• Over 6,000 people contract HIV/AIDS each day. Half of those that contact HIV/AIDS are youth.
• More than 75% of youth with HIV/AIDS are from sub-Saharan Africa.
• At least 15 million children under 15 have had AIDS.
• Youth with HIV/AIDS have trouble attending school because of discrimination at school, and care needed for their disease.
• Over 1.5 million people die annually, due to violence, including homicide and war. Violence is the leading cause of death in youth.
• There are more than 300,000 child soldiers around the world. Young girls are vulnerable to rape and forced into sex slavery
• Between 700,000 and 2 million females were involved in sex trafficking; most were youth.

(Stats from Advocates for Youth)