Youth engagement levels globally reflect a complex interplay of resources (more time, more education, more energy, but less developed skills and less money) interacting with lifecycle and generational effects (Isaksson, 2014). In Africa, moreover, youth often have radically different experiences of democracy than their parents and grandparents (Mattes, 2012). But ultimately most studies have expected, and found, that youth participate less than older cohorts.
This continues to hold true in Afrobarometer’s most recent findings (Figure 22). For all types of political and civic participation except protest, young Africans (aged 18-35, using the African Union definition) are less politically engaged than older generations. The disparity is largest for voting, where a massive 18-percentage-point gap separates youth from older respondents: Nearly four in 10 young people (37%) are relinquishing their opportunity – or abdicating their responsibility – to select their own leaders. (For country breakdowns, see Page 29).
Youth are also less likely to feel close to a party (-8 points), to attend a community meeting (-12 points), to join with others to raise an issue (-8 points), and to contact traditional leaders and local government councillors (-10 points each).
The one form of participation where the young marginally surpass their elders is protest: One in 10 youth (10%) say they joined a protest during the previous year, compared to 8% among those over 35.
青年参与水平反映了资源（更多时间、更多教育、更多精力，但技能和金钱较少）与生命周期和代际效应（Isaksson，2014）之间复杂的相互作用。此外，在非洲，青年对民主的体验往往与他们的父母和祖父母截然不同（Mattes，2012）。但最终，大多数研究都预期并发现，青年参与度低于老年群体。
这在非洲晴雨表的最新调查结果中依然如此（图22）。除了抗议之外，在所有类型的政治和公民参与中，非洲青年（18-35岁，采用非洲联盟的定义）的政治参与度都低于老一辈。投票方面的差距最大，青年与老年受访者之间存在高达18个百分点的巨大差距：近十分之四的年轻人（37%）放弃了选择自己领导人的机会——或推卸了他们的责任。（有关国家细分，请参见第29页）。
青年也不太可能感到与某个政党亲近（-8个百分点），参加社区会议（-12个百分点），与他人一起提出问题（-8个百分点），以及联系传统领导人和地方政府议员（各-10个百分点）。
青年略微超越老年人的唯一一种参与形式是抗议：十分之一的青年（10%）表示他们在前一年参加了抗议，而35岁以上的人群中这一比例为8%。
