The National Youth Agency: Comment - A new look at the state of theyoung

For young people it reveals some progress, for example on the numbers of children living in poverty and on teenage pregnancy. On other indicators the story is less encouraging. Progress on educational attainment appears to have stalled; so, too, has the employment of young adults and the level of school exclusion. There are some themes where the position is steady - crime, drug use. And there are some geographic variations, with the northeast of England being notably weak across most indicators, Scotland worse on health and Wales on unemployment for young adults. Inner London is the most unequal part of Britain, combining the highest proportions of both rich and poor people, although other cities also display similar characteristics, albeit on a smaller scale.