Youth represent a pivotal demographic, shaping the future workforce, leadership, and societal transformation. Crafting robust youth policies is crucial to inclusive and equitable societies. However, the effectiveness of these policies varies widely, influenced by institutional, economic, and sociopolitical contexts. This working paper provides a comparative analysis of youth policies across 32 countries from different regions, including Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Oceania, focusing on key domains such as education, employment, health, social inclusion, legal frameworks, and the application of Youth Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) tools. Proposing a comprehensive evaluation framework, the paper assesses the extensiveness and inclusivity of youth policies in each country. It also introduces the Youth Governance Index (YGI), which categorizes and ranks nations based on the presence or absence of youth-related policies. Collecting and reviewing publicly available data and using a theoretical framework based on social inclusion, human capital development, and rights-based approaches, this study offers a detailed evaluation of how the selected countries have supported their young populations. The results reveal significant disparities in the prioritization and implementation of youth policies, pointing to areas of strength and gaps in execution. By comparing strategies in a systematic fashion, this paper contributes to ongoing discussions on youth policy development and the global landscape of youth governance. While highlighting the value of global benchmarking, it emphasizes the importance of tailored, evidence-based policies to address the specific challenges faced by youth in diverse national contexts.