About 36% of young people with postsecondary education in Bangladesh are unemployed, according to research published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), highlighting the severe unemployment crisis the country faces.

Its research shows that unemployment among highly educated youth in Bangladesh is significantly higher than the overall youth unemployment rate of around 10%.

The IMF defines advanced education as postsecondary education and considers young people aged 15-24 in its analysis.

The findings were published in the September edition of the IMF’s Finance & Development magazine as part of research on youth unemployment in Asia.

Youth unemployment is elevated across Asia, but it is often highest among those with the most advanced education, according to the IMF.

Among the three South Asian economies covered by the IMF, Sri Lanka has the highest unemployment rate among highly educated youth at around 43%, followed by India at roughly 42% and Bangladesh at about 36%.

The three countries stand well above most Southeast Asian economies included in the comparison.

Meanwhile, overall youth unemployment is 18% in India and roughly 22% in Sri Lanka.

The gap between overall youth unemployment and unemployment among highly educated youth is also visible across the region.

Among highly educated young people, unemployment is about 18% in Indonesia, 16% in Vietnam, 13% in Malaysia and Thailand, and 12% in the Philippines. Singapore records a substantially lower rate of about 8%.

In Southeast Asia, highly educated young workers also experience higher unemployment than their less-educated peers, but the absolute rates are significantly lower than in South Asia.

In Thailand, for example, 3.9% of people aged 15–24 were unemployed last year, while the rate among Thais of the same age with postsecondary education was three times higher at 13%.

The IMF described the broader phenomenon as a “graduate glut”, with highly educated young workers struggling to find jobs that match their qualifications.

“Highly educated young workers are struggling to find positions that match their qualifications,” Krishna Srinivasan, director of the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department, said.

The IMF also noted that the rapid integration of AI models and automation is increasingly replacing entry-level technical roles, such as junior engineers, animators and administrative staff, that traditionally absorbed recent graduates.