Arab Youth Survey 2018

More than half of young Arabs (58 percent) think ISIS and its ideology will be fully defeated, according to the Arab Youth Survey 2018. Some 78 percent of youths think ISIS has become weaker over the past year, and confidence in their government's ability to deal with ISIS was at 68 percent -- up 10 percent from 2017. Young Arabs see the Arab Spring and the rise of ISIS as the two most important events of the past decade and that both had a negative regional impact. As a result, a majority (55 percent) say the Middle East is heading in the wrong direction. The survey was conducted in face-to-face interviews with Arab men and women (ages 18-24) from January 21 to February 20, 2018. The following are excerpted results from the Arab Youth Survey 2018. 

Would you say that over the past 10 years, things in the Arab world as a region have moved in the right direction or in the wrong direction?

 

Which of the following events or developments that took place in the last 10 years in your view has had the biggest impact on the Arab world? 
 

How positive or negative of an impact has this event or development had on the Arab world?
 

Now thinking about the next 10 years, which of the following, if any, are the most important things necessary for the Arab world to move in the right direction? 
 

Defeating terrorism is the strongest priority among GCC youth, while fighting government corruption is the top priority for North Africa youth. 
 

To what extend do you support or oppose the Saud King's decision to appoint his son Mohammed bin Salman as the new Crown Prince? 
 

*91 percent of Saudi Arabian youth say "support" 

Do you think Mohammed bin Salman will take Saudi Arabia in the...? 
 

*90 percent of Saudi Arabian youth say "right direction" 

How strong or weak of a leader do you think Mohammed bin Salman is? 
 

*97 percent of Saudi Arabian youth say "strong leader" 

Now thinking about the next 10 years, which of the following individuals will have the biggest impact on the Arab world? 
 

Thinking specifically about ISIS, over the past year, do you think ISIS has become stronger, weaker or neither? 

How confident are you in your national government's ability to deal with the threat of ISIS? 

What do you think is the future of ISIS? 

"ISIS and its ideology will be fully defeated" 

Click here for the full results. 

Methodology

The Arab Youth Survey was conducted by PSB Research in 16 Middle East and North Africa countries and territories. The countries and territories included Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories and Yemen. Syria was not included because of the civil conflict. PSB conducted 3,500 face-to-face interviews with a respondent gender ratio of 50:50 (male to female). There were 200 respondents per country, except for Saudi Arabia and Egypt (300 each), Iraq (250) and the Palestinian Territories (150). The interviews were conducted in both Arabic and English from January 21 to February 20, 2018 with respondents between the ages of 18 to 24. Respondents were nationals of each country and were selected "to provide an accurate reflection of each nation's geographic and socio-economic make-up." The margin of error was +/-1.65 percent. 

Photo Credit: Debate to Action: Communications and Leadership Programme by Anna Lindh Foundation via Flickr (Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0))