International Youth Day.. 500,000 jobless graduates in KRI

Shafaq News / On Saturday, on the International Youth Day, the Coordination Organizations Network in the Kurdistan Region (KRI) released data on unemployment, drug proliferation, and migration.

Serwan Girdi, the network's president, stated, "Over three years, 36,530 individuals have migrated from the KRI, primarily settling on the outskirts of various governorates due to unemployment."

"Only 3,121 individuals have returned, with these migrants paying smugglers over 152 million dollars."

Addressing unemployment, Girdi clarified that the KRI's unemployment rate was "14% in 2020, rising to 15.4% in 2021 and further to 18% in 2022. However, it decreased to 15% at the start of this year."

He highlighted that 420,000 graduates from universities and institutes are currently unemployed in the KRI.

Concerning drug proliferation, he revealed that "in 2014, the count of arrests made under the Anti-Drug Law stood at 142. This number, however, escalated to over 1,300 in Erbil and Duhok and reached 980 in al-Sulaymaniyah during 2020."

He added, "In the past year, there were 1,217 arrests under the Anti-Drug Law in Erbil and Duhok, along with 800 in al-Sulaymaniyah." He further noted that "the count has reached 503 individuals since this year's commencement."