Are you a number? All around the world, how different are we?

All over the world, we look different, we live in different places - some of us in the cities, some of us in rural areas - we feel different, we wear different clothes, we have different beliefs, we speak different languages and do different things. We live in different ways. Some of us still live at home, while others can hardly find shelter and have to sleep in the street. Being young means something different in different parts of the world.

In Pakistan you might be working for 12 hours a day when you are 14, whilst in Australia you might be still at school when you are 20. A girl in Sweden might have her first serious relationship when she is 22, whilst a young woman of the same age in India may have been married for eight years. She might have already started a family of her own.

There are more than 1.5 billion young people in the world between the age of 10 and 24. That's one-third of the population. In some countries, more than half the population is under 18.

So are we unique? Despite all the differences we have quite a lot in common.

We all go through the same physical changes. For many of us this is also a time of emotional changes; we may feel different from before, no longer a child, but not quite an adult.

Think the people who need to be educated are parents and teachers. They should discard their old beliefs and start informing their kids about sex and its complexities. To talk to your kid about sex doesn't mean that you are encouraging them to have sex. Instead it helps then sieve through the information they get from friends, allowing them to decide what is wrong and what is right."
22, M, Cameroon

"I think all the sex education that's going on right now, like STD and contraceptives education, is a good idea, but I think we should be taught something else also. Sex is net a game, ifs something special. They should teach how it's different for each individual."
18. F, USA

The period of being young can be a time of having fun and enjoying life, a period of trying to be like adults. taking risks and experimenting with drugs and alcohol. Sex can be a part of that.

Sex is an important issue for many of us. Most young people in the world many later than their parents did and many have sex before marriage.

Some people think that these days young people start to have sex at younger age than they did - this is not really true. Many young people are not sexually active at all before they are married.

Sex, relationships, love and friendship are issues that are never far from our thoughts. It is said that guys think or sex and relationships every nine minutes (and girls probably do the same).

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We should have forums where young people come together, where people talk openly, without an adult, and share their ideas. But there has to be knowledgeable people around, to correct the misconceptions."
19, F, Japan

"Sex education should not be treated like some kind of fashion, here today, gone tomorrow. People should realize that a lot of people need to be made aware of what sex is all about. The good and the bad things it brings. Adults should change their attitudes towards the subject and teach their offspring from a young age because it is their children's lives at stake."
21, M, Lesotho

"Sex education should be made interesting so that young people like as who talk about sex with oar friends will be Interested. We should be given good enough reasons to keep away from sex until the right moment."
16, F, Sri Lanka

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Around

The world