World Futures Day - Young Voices 2025 Report
- Lisa Giuliani
- Mar 27
- 2 min read
We wrapped up our most incredible World Futures Day - Young Voices (WFD-YV) celebration yet, organized by Teach the Future in collaboration with The Millennium Project and others, and we can't wait to share the highlights with you.
The Big Picture
Over 1,000 registered participants from 73 countries learned about our global conversation about the future this year! The best part? Young people showed up in record numbers—62% of attendees were under 25, our highest youth participation ever!
For a full day, conversations flowed across time zones as 38 interactive sessions followed the sun around the world. Youth facilitators took the lead alongside adult mentors, creating genuine intergenerational dialogue about our collective futures. High youth engagement represents a significant improvement over previous years, demonstrating the growing interest among young people in shaping conversations about our collective futures. This quick recap captures the amazing energy from our global conversation that spanned the continents!
Who Showed Up?
The geographic diversity blew us away! Participants joined from most continents, with particularly strong representation from Asia (30%) and South America (27%). Brazil, Pakistan, Argentina, India, and Kenya led the way with the most attendees.
Students made up the largest group (32%), joined by educators, researchers, nonprofit leaders, and professionals from various sectors. Word-of-mouth was our biggest ally—nearly a quarter of participants heard about the event from friends, family or colleagues.
What We Talked About
Intergenerational conversations covered eight exciting themes—from reimagining education beyond traditional schooling to exploring how quantum computing will transform cybersecurity. We had sessions on everything from New Zealand's ambitious "Predator Free 2050" environmental initiative to youth-led futures literacy workshops in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The interactive format sparked incredible exchanges: vision boarding exercises, futures thinking games, storytelling workshops, and frank discussions about mental health in a fast-paced world. One standout session connected youth with community leaders transforming Mexico's poorest municipality, demonstrating the impact in which communities can "dream without losing hope along the way." The Curriculum for Life team turned their session into a collaborative vision board to imagine and visualize future scenarios through artistic expression and UNICEF Youth Foresight Fellowship, shared incites from their Young Visionaries: Child Rights Youth Foresight Report 2024, the journey and research findings demonstrating the significance of engaging children and youth in research, dialogue, and decision making.
What Participants Said
The feedback has been electric! Young voices felt genuinely heard:
"One major takeaway for me is that our voices really do matter, no matter how young we are." - Sami, 14, China
"I learned that we don't have to dwell on the negative side of climate change. We can be creative enough to create solutions for a brighter future." - Lorritha, 18-25, Ghana
"It was amazing to express our viewpoint. I like the structure of the festival and I would like to participate once again." - Anton, 11-17, Bulgaria
“For the first time I thought about the future.” - Lucia, 11
Until then, keep the futures conversations going in your communities. The turnout this year shows that interest in shaping our collective futures is growing, especially among young people. Let's build on this momentum together!