Economic Empowerment and Health Outcomes in Youth
1.12.2025
Economic empowerment refers to the process where individuals or communities gain the knowledge, skills, resources, and opportunities to participate meaningfully in economic activities. Economic empowerment includes access to education, skill acquisition, income and employment, financial literacy, entrepreneurship opportunities, control over economic decisions and protection from economic shocks. When individuals are economically empowered, they can meet their basic needs, invest in their health, and make choices that enhance their quality of life.
Economic empowerment results in economic stability, which is a foundational determinant of public health outcomes. Improved economic well-being, defined by higher incomes, greater resource control, and reduced financial strain, operates through multiple pathways—material, psychosocial, and behavioral—to deliver measurable improvements in longevity and morbidity for individuals and communities.
At BlessWorld Foundation International, we support and actively promote youth economic empowerment through programs like Cradle2Fame. Cradle2Fame is a youth empowerment program that recruits new “cradle”talents and provides them opportunities to showcase their talents for chances to win grand prizes and ”fame”. Benefits of youth empowerment include increased contributions to national productivity and healthier communities, as well as decreased risk-taking behaviours, crime and violence, early pregnancy, mental health challenges and unemployment.
Other measures to increase economic empowerment among youth include Investment in literacy, vocational training, STEM skills, and entrepreneurship to boost employment. Additionally, governments and private sectors can also empower youth and ultimately improve health outcomes by promoting minimum wage increase, safe, equitable workplaces, employment opportunities for youth and vulnerable groups, micro loans, and digital financial inclusion.
Economic empowerment is inseparable from health. By enhancing income security, reducing stress, improving living conditions, and increasing opportunities, economic empowerment provides the foundation for healthier individuals, families, communities, and nations.