BAGHDAD — The 21-year-old college student in Baghdad lost her father during the Iraq War to gunmen from a rival Muslim sect. Now she dreams of an Iraq where all people can “enjoy stable life and security.”



The young bus driver from a former Al-Qaeda stronghold had to drop out of school to help support his family. He struggles to make ends meet but longs to resume his education.



The teenager from the northern Kurdish region works in his father’s barber shop when he’s not in class. He looks forward to making a lot of money in Iraq — but only if the government can capitalize on its oil trade and foreign investments.



As part of Iraq’s growing youth population — which accounts for about 60 percent of the nation’s people — all three say they are impatient at best about where their country is headed.



The US-led invasion of March 20, 2003, promised better lives for Iraqis after three decades of war, dictatorship and sanctions.



Ten years later, the county is mired in widespread instability and political corruption.



Nevertheless, interviews and discussions across the country with more than a dozen Iraqi teenagers and young adults reveal a resiliency and refusal to abandon hope. Deadly violence is common, jobs are scarce and education is a luxury, but they say they are unwilling to give up on Iraq.



Moreover, a government survey shows that 80 percent of young Iraqis don’t want to move to another country.



“I want my country to be better, and I want my people to enjoy stable life and security, and for Iraq to be like a Western country,” said Shahad Abdul-Amir Abbas, whose father was killed in 2005 in the widespread sectarian fighting that brought Iraq to the brink of civil war.



An estimated 18 million people of Iraq’s population of 30 million are younger than 25, according to data provided by the CIA and the United Nations. By comparison, Americans of that same age group make up about one-third of the US population. Contraceptives are limited in Iraq, and an estimated 20 percent of girls ages 15 to 19 are married, according to the UN.



A 2009 study by the Iraqi Ministry of Youth and Sport reveals a decidedly traditional worldview among the nation’s young people.



The survey of 6,492 households across Iraq, focusing in large part on 15,087 people ages 10 to 30, concluded that 60 percent of the country’s youth are generally optimistic about the future, especially teenage girls.



The study was the first of its kind in Iraq, according to the UN.



UN envoy Martin Kobler said teenage and young Iraqi adults generally remain isolated from other religious sects. But a group of several dozen Iraqi youths he recently took on a series of field trips to different mosques and shrines indicated a curiosity and willingness to learn.



“They asked all kinds of questions — they just do not know about the other denominations,” Kobler said in an interview Thursday. “And on one occasion, they interrupted the sheikh, saying they don’t want to hear about sectarian attitudes. They said, ‘We want to hear about jobs, and about our future in Iraq — not sectarianism.’”



“The young people who have tolerance today will be adults with tolerance tomorrow,” Kobler said. “But young people with limited views and sectarianism today will have those views tomorrow. It’s very important that this country stays together. Everything that works to separate the country along sectarian lines is not conducive to an atmosphere where everybody is an Iraqi.” — AP