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The Statistical Centre for the Cooperation Council for the Arab Countries of the Gulf (GCC-STAT) released the figures from its base in Muscat to align with regional attention on youth wellbeing. GCC-STAT data placed the number of adolescents and youth aged 10 to 24 at roughly 12.8 million in 2025, equivalent to 20 percent of the total population across the six member states. The centre’s indicators showed the bloc had reached 100 percent provision of basic health services for this group, compared with a global rate of 68 percent according to the same metrics.
According to GCC-STAT, member states similarly achieved 100 percent compliance with basic national regulations on adolescent and youth health against a worldwide average of 84 percent. The data release, distributed through agencies including the Qatar News Agency and Emirates News Agency, framed the results as highlighting two core areas of attention. One centres on the broad availability of essential healthcare while the other concerns the existence of supportive national structures that safeguard health and improve care access.
GCC-STAT timed the announcement days after the annual GCC Day for Adolescent and Youth Health observed on September 30, an occasion that WAM noted is used to bolster prevention efforts, expand services and invest in the health of younger generations. The centre’s earlier June 2026 release on broader youth demographics stated that those aged 15 to 34 totalled 23.5 million in 2024, representing 38.2 percent of the GCC population with 15.1 million males and 8.4 million females. That report also recorded 14 million young workers in 2025, or 38.1 percent of the overall workforce.
GCC-STAT statistics have tracked a modest decline in the youth share of the population, from 38.9 percent in 2010 to 38.2 percent in 2024 for the 15-to-34 cohort. The centre maintains an online data portal with dedicated databases on health indicators, facilities and services that supply the underlying figures for such assessments across Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. These resources allow continuous monitoring of demographic and health trends that shape human capital planning in the region.
A 2017 review published in the International Journal of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine observed that adolescents form more than one-quarter of the GCC population, a higher proportion than in many other high-income countries, yet their specific healthcare needs have historically received less focus. The article pointed to a shift in the burden of mortality and morbidity toward road traffic injuries, mental health concerns, non-communicable diseases and associated risk behaviours. GCC-STAT’s latest data indicate that foundational coverage and regulatory measures have advanced considerably since that assessment.
Separate compilations by the centre have documented the GCC surpassing global Sustainable Development Goals benchmarks in related fields such as maternal mortality, under-five mortality and immunisation coverage, an Arabian Business summary of GCC-STAT material showed. Universal health coverage across the bloc stands at 100 percent against a global 68 percent, while physician density reaches 33.6 per 10,000 people compared with the worldwide average of 18.7. Literacy rates have climbed to 99.2 percent versus 88 percent globally, illustrating interconnected gains that support sustained progress in adolescent and youth outcomes.
