Youth in transition is one of the most critical issues facing the Asia Pacific region today but it lacks conceptual clarity, is under-researched and fettered by outdated policy. The issues which confront youth and how they respond to them have varied through time and place: from rural to urban and from country to country even from region to region. To compound the complexity of transition, the speed of change has accelerated creating additional identifiable intra-generational transitional issues. Within a single generation, the issues vary not only according to time and place but also according to the specific structure of the societal institutions in which they are embedded: gender, class, family structure, workplace, government and community organisations. Furthermore, within each country, youth are embroiled within a complex web of intergenerational relations. How intergenerational relations are played out within each country reflect the various stages of demographic transition, the levels of socio-economic development, cultural antecedents and the impact of globalization.