Youth Progress in Bolivia: Methodological construction at departmental level, 2020–2024

The Youth Progress Index (YPI) is a measure based on the Social Progress Index (SPI) methodology, originally developed by Social Progress Imperative and the European Youth Forum. It aims to measure the factors that influence young people's lives. To this end, it uses social and environmental indicators that together seek to provide an overall assessment of the fulfilment of their basic needs, the foundations that support their wellbeing and the opportunities available to them in society. In Bolivia, this application, led by Save the Children and the Bolivian Catholic University "San Pablo" (UCB) through its Institute for Socio-Economic Research (IISEC), is one of the first adaptations of the YPI in the region and the first subnational application in the country. Covering five years (2020–2024), it includes 45 indicators to analyse youth progress across the country's nine departments. This report provides the technical basis for the assessment of results presented in Youth and Progress in Bolivia: A First Departmental Look through the Youth Progress Index. It is intended primarily for academics, public policy analysts and technical teams interested in understanding, auditing or extending the methodology applied. It presents the conceptual, normative and statistical criteria used to construct the indicators, together with the methodological basis and the results of the main consistency tests. Finally, it examines the challenges and limitations identified during the construction of the YPI, with a view to guiding improvements in indicator conceptualisation and extending geographical and temporal coverage.