Young people aged 15 to 29 make up 24.7% of Paraguay’s population, about 1.5 million of an estimated 6.2 million inhabitants. On 2026 Youth Day, celebrated annually on 21 September, Paraguay’s National Institute of Statistics (INE) published the main indicators from the 2025 Continuous Permanent Household Survey (EPHC), showing the challenges facing Paraguayan youth. 52.6% of those aged 15 to 24 are still in formal education, 14.4% of 15- to 29-year-olds live in poverty and only 24.9% have current health insurance.
Six in ten young people in that age group are economically active. Seven in ten are single. Men account for 50.7% of the youth population and women 49.3%, while 74% live in urban areas and 26% in rural ones.
Classroom attendance still higher in the cities
Among 15- to 24-year-olds, attendance at a formal educational institution stands at 54.7% in urban areas and 46.7% in rural districts. Officials say the gap is one reason the state is expanding scholarships, skills training and social protection.
The Paraguayan government has announced 5,000 extra places in 2026 for higher and technical study: 4,500 for undergraduate and teacher-training programmes and 500 for technical degrees, taking the total close to 7,600 scholarships.
The 2026 General Budget of the Nation plans to disburse a hefty sum of money on related measures. Almost 80% of the total amount is earmarked for training, job preparation and credit assistance, and 19.1% for scholarships and educational programmes. Those aged 15 to 18 remain inside the education system and continue to benefit from the Zero Hunger programme. According to goverment’s stats, the school-feeding policy, which has accompanied pupils for years, now reaches more than one million students.
Poverty bites harder in the countryside
Employment, poverty and healthcare remain among the main challenges facing Paraguayan youth. INE figures show that six in ten people aged 15 to 29 form part of the employed population. In 2025, 14.4% of young people (219,202 people) were living in poverty. The incidence is higher in rural areas, at 21.2%, than in urban areas, at 12%.
First jobs and health cover still limited
The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security is promoting schemes to improve labour-market integration and access to formal work. EmpleaPY Joven is designed to help young people into a first formal job through incentives for micro, small and medium-sized firms and training linked to employment.
On health, 24.9% of the 1,525,855 people aged 15 to 29 hold current insurance. Efforts are under way to strengthen public services for adolescents and young adults, including comprehensive adolescent care and the primary healthcare network.
Family patterns are still relatively delayed at this age. Seven in ten young people aged 15 to 29 are single, while about two in ten live as a couple, either as partners or as spouses.
The INE snapshot presents a large, mostly urban generation that is still heavily engaged in study, yet unevenly protected against poverty and only thinly covered by health insurance. Youth Day has become the moment those contrasts are set out in public.
