The Middle East and North Africa are sitting on a demographic time bomb. The region presides over the lowest employment rate in the world. One in four people under the age of 25 is out of work. Yet over the next decade or so, the region is likely to experience growth in population of 150m people, the equivalent of two Egypts. What is to be done?

In this special report, the Financial Times hopes to offer some answers to one of the most pressing questions of the new century. Our experts, led by Roula Khalaf, Middle East editor, provide first-hand reportage and analysis of the problem of youth and employment in the Arab world. The FT is also co-hosting a two-day conference that opened yesterday in Doha under the auspices of Her Highness Sheikha Mozah of Qatar.