ASEAN, explained.
The Gen Z group protests against corruption and the ban on social media platforms by the government in Kathmandu, Nepal, 8 September 2025 (Ambir Tolang/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Across the region, leaders twice the median age of their populations face sustained resistance from a new generation.
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The youth are revolting as Asia's gerontocracy is showing its ageThe youth are revolting as Asia's gerontocracy is showing its age
The median age of populations in Asia is 32.5 years. In ASEAN countries, it is slightly lower, at 30.4, and lower again in some individual nations, such as Myanmar at 27. “Youth” comprise more than a third of the total population, making Asia one of the most youthful regions of the world.
However, if we look at the ages of the leaders who claim to represent their constituencies, you don’t see a reflection of these populations. Leaders across the region are, generally, more than twice the median age of their citizenry.
This observation is particularly pertinent as media-dubbed “Gen Z protests” over corruption, inequality and lack of opportunities, shake the region. In both Nepal and Indonesia people under 30 make up more than half the population, yet governments are run by older generations and there is a perceived lack of accountability by decision makers.
As one of the youngest regions globally, the age of the leaders across these countries is striking. Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto, as well as ousted Nepali PM Sharma Oli and newly appointed first female PM Sushila Katki, are all 73 years old. In Bangladesh ousted PM Sheikh Hasina is 77, while interim PM Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus is 85. Min Aung Hlaing, the military leader who seized power in the 2021 Myanmar coup, is 69.
Rule by the elderly has a name: gerontocracy. It is undeniable that the gerontocratic rule remains resilient despite youth protests across the region.
Left: Muhammad Yunus and Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh, Prabowo Subianto of Indonesia, Sharma Oli and Sushila Katki of Nepal (Creative Commons)
While every country has its distinct issues and injustices, youth across South Asia and Southeast Asia share legitimate grievances against corruption, elitism, and broken promises of overwhelmingly older leaders. Research shows that youth are willing, often enthusiastic engagers with democracy and civic pluralism. It also tells us that gerontocratic systems contribute to feelings of political alienation of youth, and undermine the legitimacy of political systems themselves.
So it is not a surprise then, when the promises of democracy, equality, and opportunity are denied, and power is hoarded by older generations, this generation is refusing to be silent. With rising authoritarianism and decline in trust in democracy around the world, locally-engaged but transnationally networked youth are not sitting on the sidelines, but are forging the future they want.
Young people have not just participated, but led both in the streets and online to challenge authoritarianism, defend democratic rights, and build solidarity across borders.
When young people put their bodies and lives on the line for what they see as a better future, governments, institutions, and regional organisations need to step up to meet these expectations and commitments that have been made. A new report released by the ASEAN Institute for Peace and Reconciliation on regional engagement with the global “Youth, Peace and Security” agenda, shows that institutional actors need to do much more to overcome the trust-gap with youth. However, it also highlights the constructive willingness of youth across the region to work toward peace, security, democracy and justice.
These self-identified “Gen Z” protestors may appear to be conforming to the worst assumptions and stereotypes of young people as disruptive, delinquent, and dangerous. But such an analysis is dangerously short-sighted, and misses wider patterns of youth activism across Asia in response to disenfranchisement and marginalisation.
The region has a long history of youth activism for independence, democracy, human rights, and justice-related causes. Despite cultural norms of deference to older generations, youth have repeatedly asserted their agency in shaping political and social change.
In more recent years, this tradition of youth and student activism has been front and centre across the region. From the youth-led pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong to the rise of the transnational #MilkTeaAlliance connecting activists across Asia, young people have not just participated, but led both in the streets and online to challenge authoritarianism, defend democratic rights, and build solidarity across borders.
We have seen the high-risk, high-cost, yet sustained activism of Myanmar youth and allies in persistent resistance since the coup in February 2021. Young resistance members of the so-called Spring Revolution fight back via creative forms of digital activism and armed struggle against autocratic rule, and careers ruined by closures of universities, travel bans, censorship and the reintroduction of mandatory military service and the risk of dying fighting for a junta they despise.
In the recent youth protests in both Indonesia and Nepal, we can see the echoes of recent extreme violence and repression by state forces against youth in both Myanmar and Bangladesh. Recent weeks have also seen demonstrations in the Philippines denouncing corruption and the misuse of public funds, as well as in Timor-Leste, where students successfully opposed lifetime pensions lawmakers wanted to award themselves. These mobilisations underscore the persistence of youth as a driving force for accountability and democratic change across Asia, even in the face of entrenched gerontocratic control and corruption.
If these “Gen Z” protests tell us anything about the present moment it is that the gerontocratic tendencies of the region’s rulers are no longer being tolerated. Generational renewal is not only possible but necessary. The adults need to come to the table as willing partners of new possibilities for the region’s future. Today’s young people are already building it.
About the authors
Erika Isabel Bulan Yague
Erika Isabel Bulan Yague is a PhD Candidate at Griffith University with expertise in youth in emergencies and peacebuilding.
Lukas Nagel
Lukas Nagel is a PhD candidate in the School of Government and IR at Griffith University.
Helen Berents
Helen Berents is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Government and International Relations at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia.
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