World Futures Day – Young Voices 2025 Report

By Lisa Giuliani, Teach the Future

We just wrapped up our most incredible World Futures Day (WFD) yet, organized by Teach the Future in collaboration with The Millennium Project and others, and we can’t wait to share the highlights with you. 

The Big Picture

Over 1,000 participants from 73 countries joined our global conversation about the future this year! The best part? Young people showed up in record numbers—62% of attendees were under 25, our highest youth participation ever!

For a full day, conversations flowed across time zones as 38 interactive sessions followed the sun around the world. Youth facilitators took the lead alongside adult mentors, creating genuine intergenerational dialogue about our collective futures.  Record-breaking youth engagement represents a significant improvement over previous years, demonstrating the growing interest among young people in shaping conversations about our collective futures. This quick recap captures the amazing energy from our global conversation that spanned the continents! 

Who Showed Up?

The geographic diversity blew us away! Participants joined from most continents, with particularly strong representation from Asia (30%) and South America (27%). Brazil, Pakistan, Argentina, India, and Kenya led the way with the most attendees.

Students made up the largest group (32%), joined by educators, researchers, nonprofit leaders, and professionals from various sectors. Word-of-mouth was our biggest ally—nearly a quarter of participants heard about the event from friends, family or colleagues.

What We Talked About

Conversations covered eight exciting themes—from reimagining education beyond traditional schooling to exploring how quantum computing will transform cybersecurity. We had sessions on everything from New Zealand’s ambitious “Predator Free 2050” environmental initiative to youth-led futures literacy workshops in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The interactive format sparked incredible exchanges: vision boarding exercises, futures thinking games, storytelling workshops, and frank discussions about mental health in a fast-paced world. One standout session connected youth with community leaders transforming Mexico’s poorest municipality, showing how communities can “dream without losing hope along the way.”

What Participants Said

The feedback has been electric! Young voices felt genuinely heard:

“One major takeaway for me is that our voices really do matter, no matter how young we are.” – Sami, 14, China

“I learned that we don’t have to dwell on the negative side of climate change. We can be creative enough to create solutions for a brighter future.” – Lorritha, 18-25, Ghana

“It was amazing to express our viewpoint. I like the structure of the festival and I would like to participate once again.” – Anton, 11-17, Bulgaria

“For the first time I thought about the future.” – Lucia, 11

Playlist of the WFD Young Voices 2025 sessions

A week of World Futures Day in Brazil

By Rosa Alegria, Brazil Node of The Millennium Project

The Brazil Node of The Millennium Project, hosting the Brazilian Hub of Teach the Future, extended World Futures Day into a whole week.
It was 5 days (from March 10 to 15) of conversations in virtual rooms integrating futurists, experts, and youth leaders taking the stage. The week had the participation of highly recognized people around five themes: the regenerative era, young voices occupying decision-making spaces, post-employment work, the crisis of imagination and generation z as consumer activists. 
It had an impressive reach: almost 22,000 subscribers, more than 41,000 views in the rooms with ideas and reflections in the chat rooms with youths from all over the country.

Watch the videos