They are young, undereducated, unemployed, and disenfranchised. In Costa Rica and other parts of Latin America, they are known as the NiNis, an abbreviated portmanteau of “ni estudio, ni trabajo,” which translates into “I don’t study and don’t have a job.” The number of NiNis has been on the rise since 2010, and this has prompted public officials and researchers to take a closer look at this worrisome societal trend.

 

For all the hoopla about how the fate of the world rests upon the shoulders of the Millennial Generation, who came of age in the midst of great advancements in the Information Age, the reality in Costa Rica is that many young people are ill-prepared to take on greater roles in society because they are getting left behind. In a way, the NiNis can be considered children of the global financial crisis and the Great American Recession; in fact, the NiNis are associated with the English acronym NINJA (No Income, No Job or Assets), which itself is financial jargon left over from the days of subprime mortgage lending in the United States.

 

The NiNis in Costa Rica are not exactly lazy because they wish to be; they are rather ill-prepared to take on the challenges of modern society. A recent article by Maria Siu Lanzas of business news daily La Republica cites the current statistics compiled by the National Institute of Statistics and Census (Spanish initials: INEC) on the NiNis, and the figures are certainly somber:

 

• There are 113,000 NiNis in Costa Rica
• In some marginalized rural cantons, NiNis make up 26 percent of the population
• The NiNis are between the ages of 15 and 24

 

As expected, there is a growing feeling of apathy among NiNis in Costa Rica; to wit:

 

• 12.6 percent are not interested in going to school
• 5.7 percent believe that studying is hard
• 5.4 percent can’t afford to go to school (which is mostly free in Costa Rica)
• 3.2 percent are close to obtaining a high school diploma, but they are stuck because they can’t pass the final exam
• 2.4 percent have no choice since they have to care for the young or elderly in their families

 

More than half of NiNis come from immigrant Nicaraguan families, and they are far more likely to live in rural cantons located in the provinces of Guanacaste and Limon. We are talking about cantons such as Santa Cruz, Carrillo, Matina, Talamanca, etc. The government has recognized this situation; in fact, the figures above could be higher if not for programs such as Avanzemos, Empleate, and others, but these programs are only present in 20 cantons in Costa Rica. Of the 10 cantons where the NiNi situation is dire, meaning where more than 25 percent of the young population is disenfranchised, only two municipalities are currently receiving assistance.