A wave of youth-led “Gen Z” protests is sweeping the world. A repeated slogan during recent protests in Morocco was “We want hospitals, not stadiums”, reflecting how publicly funded services such as health and education are being ignored. In Madagascar, power outages and water outages sparked protests that ousted the government. Rooted in high levels of inequality, lack of public services, and generational grievances, these protests reflect a rupture in the social contract between governments and young people.
This week the World Summit on Social Development will be held in Qatar. This is the first such summit in 30 years to draw the world’s attention to the urgent need to provide health, education, social protection and other vital services for all. These public services are the most powerful and proven way to build a more equal and just society. This summit provides an important opportunity to fundamentally improve public service delivery, which is central to rebuilding a new social contract between angry populations and governments.
Sadly, this trend is firmly in the wrong direction. Oxfam highlighted that in 2024, 84% of countries have reduced investment in education, health and social protection. Nine out of 10 countries have retreated in one or more areas. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in all these areas are way off track. Cuts in aid from rich countries are also worsening the situation in the Global South. U.S. foreign aid cuts alone could result in more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030.
But the world is not short on wealth. The total wealth of the world is immeasurable. Much of it is in the hands of the wealthy and is largely untaxed. Global private wealth has increased by $342 trillion since 1995, eight times more than global public wealth. The case for taxing this wealth to fund health care, education, and other public services is overwhelming, and thanks to the leadership of Spain and Brazil, it is also gaining long-overdue momentum.
Over the next 10 years, $70 trillion will be transferred from the wealthy to their children, perpetuating an inequality known as “hereditary inheritance” for the next generation. On the other hand, only people with enough money can afford good education and health. This is wasting a generation of talent. How many aspiring climate scientists and engineers don’t even make it to high school? In many countries, children from wealthy families are hundreds of times more likely to attend university than children from poor families. For girls from poor families, the chances are even lower. No wonder this spills over into anger and resentment.
The concept of the welfare state is eroding before our eyes in the face of ideological commitments to austerity and state retrenchment. This is tragic, given the clear evidence that strong welfare systems are key to reducing inequality, redressing social disadvantage and rebuilding trust. In contrast, failure to achieve these risks creating anxiety. Improving service delivery increases satisfaction and trust in government, but poor or corrupt service delivery undermines trust.
The Gen Z protests show that the next generation is no longer willing to wait patiently for traditional party politics to address these concerns. They organize digitally and operate outside established institutional channels. If governments do not respond to people’s aspirations by improving public services and strengthening social protection, and take action against inequalities, there is a risk of further resistance and protests. In this sense, the Gen Z rebellion is a canary for inequality and public service deficits.
The good news is that none of this is inevitable. There are many examples of countries that have bucked this trend. Take, for example, Thailand, which has a world-class public healthcare system that is available to all its citizens. Or the hundreds of millions of children who benefit from free primary education across Africa. Good public services are within the reach of any government.
This requires governments to focus on building the nation’s public wealth rather than private wealth. They should propose “private finance first” policies and reject snake-oil solutions that promote the privatization, commercialization and financialization of essential public services such as health, education, water, care and social protection as a panacea. This is a dangerous dead end.
Last year, 49 new billionaires were created in the health and pharmaceutical sectors. However, half of the world’s population still lacks essential health services, and 1.3 billion people are forced into poverty due to out-of-pocket medical costs. Only the wealthiest people benefit from privatized health care, and there are huge human costs.
The Gen Z movement brings urgency to the agenda of the World Summit on Social Development. Governments ignore the provision of public services at their own peril. They must respond in classrooms and clinics, not bullets and batons.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.
