GENEVA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The global proportion of members of parliaments younger than 30 has increased in two years from 1.9 percent to 2.2 percent, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union's (IPU) report on "Youth Participation in National Parliaments" published on Thursday.

Despite this increase, when compared with the half of the world's population that is under 30, the biannual report reveals a sizeable deficit in the political representation of youth worldwide.

Gabriela Cuevas, the 39-year-old IPU president, said that "As the youngest president of the IPU, I believe representation is not only a cornerstone of democracy but also our biggest source of strength."

She said that bringing more young people into decision making will result in better decisions on the essential challenges the world's societies face.

"We count on the vision, commitment and fresh ideas of young MPs to guide us on how to make policies that respond efficiently not only to today's needs but also to those of future generations," said Cuevas.

Europe performs best in the share of young MPs, followed by the Americas.

The report will be launched at IPU's fifth Global Conference of Young Parliamentarians to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Dec. 14-15.

As a global hub of information about parliaments, the IPU has measured and analyzed youth participation in parliaments since 2014.

Based on surveys completed by over 200 parliamentary chambers in 150 countries, the IPU report finds that over 30 percent of the world's single or lower houses of parliament have no MPs under 30; and that 76 percent of upper chambers of parliament have no MPs under 30.

The proportion of MPs under 40 has also increased from 14.2 percent in 2016 to 15.5 percent in 2018, and the number of MPs under 45 has gone up from 26 percent in 2016 to 28.1 percent in 2018. Enditem

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