The Statistical Centre for the Cooperation Council for the Arab Countries of the Gulf announced that member states have attained full coverage of essential health services tailored for adolescents and youth. This means the GCC achieves 100% coverage of basic health services for youth, adolescents across the six nations, building on years of coordinated investment in healthcare infrastructure. World Health Organization assessments have tracked steady gains in the region while global progress on universal health coverage has slowed in recent years with billions still lacking access to essential services.
According to a 2025 global monitoring report from the World Health Organization, although service coverage has expanded, gains remain uneven and advances in noncommunicable diseases have lagged behind infectious disease control. In the GCC, however, universal health coverage stands at 100 percent compared with 68 percent globally, GCC-Stat data shows. The centre also reported that vaccine coverage has hit 100 percent in the bloc against an 84 percent world average.
Jassim Mohammed Al-Budaiwi, secretary general of the GCC, described child and adolescent health as a strategic priority for building the future of member states in remarks reported on October 9, 2026. He noted that the number of children up to age 14 in the GCC totals about 7.9 million with an additional 2.19 million youth aged 15 to 19. Al-Budaiwi pointed to joint initiatives including vaccination campaigns that have helped cut infant mortality rates by 40 percent over the past five decades.
Approximately 1.3 billion adolescents aged 10 to 19 make up 16 percent of the global population, a World Health Organization overview found. Mortality rates from all causes have declined over the last 20 years with the largest drops among older adolescent girls, though progress varies by region. Mental health conditions, iron deficiency anaemia and skin diseases account for much of the non-fatal disease burden among this group worldwide.
GCC nations have recorded a physician density of 33.6 per 10,000 people, nearly double the global figure of 18.7, according to statistics from the Gulf centre. Maternal mortality stands at 19.9 per 100,000 live births well below the global target of 70. These benchmarks support the delivery of comprehensive services including preventive care, mental health programmes and school-based health initiatives now operating at full coverage levels.
School health services in member states such as Qatar have demonstrated the practical impact of these policies with more than 492,000 student visits recorded in 2025 alone. Vision screening reached 96 percent of targeted students while growth measurements achieved complete coverage, a local health authority reported. Such programmes form part of the wider GCC strategy to sustain high standards in adolescent and youth care.
