International Youth Day aims to promote awareness, especially among youth, of the World Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond.

The World Programme of Action calls for action in 10 priority areas: education, employment, hunger and poverty, health, environment, drug abuse, juvenile delinquency, leisure-time activities, girls and young women, and full and effective participation of youth in the life of society and in decision-making.

It also recommends action at national, regional and global levels to implement the Programme. Youth - defined by the United Nations as the age group between 15 and 24 years old - make up one sixth of the world's population. The majority of these young men and women live in developing countries, and their numbers are expected to rise steeply into the twenty-first century.