The analytical material prepared by the staff of the electronic library shows the variability of the "youth" definition and the vastness of its age boundaries established in the CIS countries. The report is compiled on the basis of normative legal acts regulating youth policy in the Commonwealth.
According to the brochure "Youth in the Commonwealth of Independent States and Sustainable Development Goals", at the beginning of 2020 about 52 million people aged 15 to 29 years old lived in the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (hereinafter referred to as the CIS). It is 18% of the total population in these states. The largest share of young people lived in Tajikistan (27.3%), Uzbekistan (25.5%) and Kyrgyzstan (24.5%). Despite the fact that the share of young people in the CIS countries is gradually declining which is primarily due to the aging of the population, young people remain a key socio-demographic resource of the state. The legislation of the CIS countries in the field of youth policy continues to improve. But what does the term "youth" imply? Is there a unified approach to the definition of this concept in the post-Soviet space?
In 2012 the Interparliamentary Assembly of the CIS Member States adopted the Model Law "On state youth policy". It defines youth (young citizens) as "a socio-demographic group (social community) of citizens (including persons with dual citizenship, foreign citizens and stateless persons), permanently or predominantly residing in the territory of a CIS member state, aged 14 up to 30 years (or in other age limits, if they reflect the traditional ideas about youth in the CIS member state)". In the "Dictionary-reference book of terms and definitions of model legislation concepts of the CIS Member States", youth is defined as "persons from 18 to 29 years old, unless otherwise established in accordance with national legislation." As we can see there are no clearly defined age limits at the international level.
Today all the CIS Member States, except for the Republic of Armenia, have adopted basic laws in the field of state youth policy. The age limits of youth indicated in these regulatory legal acts are extensive.
The lower age limit of youth, with the exception of the Republic of Azerbaijan, is 14 years. The upper limit is a maximum of 35 years (in three countries, including the Russian Federation).
In Russia, the concept of “youth”, in addition to the Federal Law No. 489-FZ of December 30, 2020 "On youth policy in the Russian Federation", is also stated in the "Fundamentals of state youth policy of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2025", the document adopted in 2014. The term "youth" implies "a socio-demographic group identified on the basis of age characteristics, social status and characterized by specific interests and values." According to this definition, not only age characteristics determine youth as a category of the population, but also social conditions and value orientations, which, both in the Russian Federation and in other CIS Member States, are being transformed under the influence of various factors, including the context of globalization.
Here we come to an important problem that prevents the formation of a unified approach to the definition of the concept of "youth". In different humanities, "youth" is interpreted in its own way. Youth can be viewed as a generation of people going through the stage of socialization (the process of becoming a person, assimilating the norms, attitudes, values inherent in a particular society). The demographic concept is closely intertwined with the sociological vision, according to which age is the key feature of youth. From the point of view of psychology, young people include those individuals who have specific psychophysiological characteristics.
The question of typology is also essential when trying to accurately define the concept of "youth". Among youth various interrelated groups can be distinguished such as children, adolescents, underage, schoolchildren, students, etc. In addition, youth can be divided into rural, working, talented, etc. Along with the term “youth”, such concepts as “young specialist”, “young entrepreneur”, “young family”, etc. are used in regulatory legal acts.
Based on the foregoing, we can conclude that there is no single interpretation of the concept of "youth" in the post-Soviet space. At the international level the definition is given in the Model Law "On state youth policy", however, the indicated age limits often do not coincide with those established in each specific CIS country. Specialists in different fields of science adhere to different approaches to defining the concept of "youth". The diversity of types and classes of youth as a socio-demographic group only makes it difficult to find a unique definition of this term.
Bibliography:
1) Alekhina I.S., Putrya N.G. Youth as a Subject and Object of State Youth Policy: Problematic Aspects of the Concept // Administrative consulting. 2020. N 3. P. 39–46.
2) Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan No. 997-IIQ of April 9, 2002 "On youth policy".
3) Law of the Kyrgyz Republic No. 256 of July 31, 2009 "On the basics of state youth policy".
4) Law of the Republic of Belarus No. 65-3 of December 7, 2009 "On the basics of state youth policy".
5) Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 285-V ZRK of February 9, 2015 "On state youth policy".
6) Law of the Republic of Moldova No. 215 of July 29, 2016 "On youth".
7) Law of the Republic of Tajikistan No. 52 of July 15, 2014 "On youth and state youth policy".
8) Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. ZRU-406 of September 14, 2016 "On state youth policy".
9) Law of Turkmenistan No. 423-V of August 29, 2013 "On state youth policy".
10) Model Law "On state youth policy".
11) Youth in the Commonwealth of Independent States and Sustainable Development Goals / Interstate Statistical Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States, UNFPA. 2021. 36 p.
12) Fundamentals of state youth policy of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2025.
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14) Dictionary-reference book of terms and definitions of model legislation concepts of the CIS Member States / Ed. M.A. Vus and V.V. Bondurovsky. «Legal Center-Press LLC», 2012. 360 p.
15) Federal Law No. 489-FZ of December 30, 2020 "On youth policy in the Russian Federation".
16) Modern youth value transformations of the CIS Member States / Ed. A.A. Aleksandrova and V.K. Baltyan. Technical universities association. 250. 240 p.