The Silent Metamorphosis: How Haiti's Youth Are Reinventing the Nation's Future
- Counts a youth population of more than 5 million aged 15 to 39, which is 42.8 percent of the total population.
- States the paradox in three figures: 35 percent of businesses are owned by people under 35, but only 9 to 11 percent of those are formally registered.
- Records youth unemployment at 37.5 percent for ages 15 to 24 in 2025, on World Bank data.
- Puts 91 percent of Haitian workers in the informal economy, on ILO data for 2025.
- Argues the dominant narratives ignore this population as an economic asset, which is the frame the report is written against.
The report argues that the dominant narratives about Haiti ignore an asset the demographic data makes plain, and it assembles that data to make the case. Group Croissance and CEDEL Haïti were commissioned to write it, working with UNDP Haiti, which also contributed editorially and technically, and the Government of Canada funded the work. Useful as a recent, sourced account of youth demography, youth-owned enterprise and the constraints young Haitians face, and as one of the few 2026 publications on the subject.
How to cite
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); Group Croissance; CEDEL Haïti, 2026, The Silent Metamorphosis: How Haiti's Youth Are Reinventing the Nation's Future, https://www.undp.org/fr/haiti/publications/la-metamorphose-silencieuse