Economy: Can we be more than China's miners? 
Australia ranks sixth in the world for youth friendliness, according to a new global index that rates countries on how well people aged 15 to 29 can flourish and prosper there. 
The Youthonomics Global Index, compiled by Paris-based think tank Youthonomics, aims to help young people assess their current and future prospects - political, economic and social - around the world.
It assesses 64 countries using 59 criteria, including youth unemployment, economic opportunities, quality and cost of education, housing affordability, age of elected leaders, work and living conditions and health and wellbeing.
"What if the greatest threat we faced was actually a clash of generations?" Youthonomics co-founders Jose Ramos-Horta and Felix Macquardt wrote in the report.
"Our findings show an astonishing callousness towards younger generations, with many developed countries like France, Japan or Italy performing poorly, and others such as the United States or the United Kingdom showing dismal prospects for youth in coming years."
Mr Ramos-Horta is a former president of East Timor and a Nobel peace prize laureate. Mr Marquardt is an activist and columnist.
The Global Index is made up of two scores: one for Youth Now, which evaluates the current state of play; and one for Youth Outlook, which assesses the prospects for young people over the next 10 years or so.
Unsurprisingly, the Youth Now index correlates strongly with economic development: the richer the country, the more youth friendly it is.
Countries that exceeded expectations include the Netherlands, Slovenia and the Ukraine.
By contrast, Russia, Brazil, Argentina, Greece and Spain scored below what their wealth should command, the report says.
Australia performed close to expected for its economic weight.
When it comes to future prospects for young people, the results were less predictable, with many advanced economies appearing towards the bottom of the rankings.
This is partly because developed economies tend to have older populations, large debts and declining economic conditions, the report says. On the other hand, low-income countries were likely to have younger, more politically-engaged populations and more dynamic economies.
Australia ranked seventh on Youth Now, but only 21st on Youth Outlook.
It performed particularly well in the Youth Now rankings for early education (2nd), economic opportunities (2nd) and university and skills (6th).
Its poorest rankings were in the Youth Outlook rankings, for political weight (27th), which measures young people's political influence, and public finance (44th), which evaluates how much debt or wealth is being transferred to young people.
"What might happen when, for the first time, a generation opts not to transmit anything to the next?
"What might happen when millennials understand just how badly their parents and grandparents jeopardised their future?" Mr Ramos-Horta and Mr Macquardt asked in the report.
Five sub-saharan African countries topped the political weight ranking - Ghana, Mali, Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda - an achievement the report mostly attributes to large (and therefore, hard to ignore) youth populations and generous government expenditure on education.