When the World Bank issued a landmark report on Middle East and North African labour markets in 2003, estimating that 100m jobs would have to be created by 2020 to bring the unemployment rate down, the international community took notice.
The predicament of Arab youth – people under 25 make up 60 per cent of the population – had been troubling the region’s governments and societies for many years. But after the September 11 attacks on the US, it had also moved up the agenda of decision-makers far beyond the Middle East.
