The main objective of this study was to examine the determinants of livelihood opportunities of thernrural youths in Merhabete Woreda-North Showa Zone of Amhara Regional State. The study wasrnconducted in the Woreda to look in to access to and control over liveWlOod capital asset by the ruralrnyouths which contribute to improve their livelihood opportunities. The 'Sustainable livelihoodrnframework' was used as analytical framework to understand the livelihood situation of the youth.rnA significant number of youths in Merhabete Woreda face difficulties to have access to and controlrnover livelihood capital assets which have a vital role for their livelihood development. One of thernmost important capital asset for agrarian population is land. However, the youths lack access to andrncontrol over land resource. They also lack decision making power on d,eir families' or communiry'srnland holdings and other natural resources. More than 65.2 percent of the respondents reported thatrnthey have no decision making power on their parents and/or guardians land.rnOn the other hand, the youth have limited access to youth friendly social services such as creditrnservice, training and health service. Since youths who live with their parents or/ and guardians hardlyrnhave collateral to loan from local credit institutions, or they don't have access to youth friendlyrntraining services such as life skill, leadership abiliry and entrepreneurial training. They foundrnthemselves in a difficult situation to improve the livelihood opportunities. From the total sampledrnrespondent only 9.6 and 12 percent have access to formal credit services and special training;rnrespectively.rnThe local youths are also having litde opportuniry to engage in activities other than farming. Nonfarmrnemployment opportunities are limited to accommodate insignificant number of youth. Onlyrn10.4 percent of the respondents involve in such activities as a primary or secondary sources ofrnlivelihood. This means a great proportion of active labour force mosdy the youths are forced to stayrnon family crop production and livestock rearing which already have a limited capaciry to absorb thernrapidly increasing excess labour. From several constraining factors forwarded by the respondents;rnlack of start up capital, having less awareness about the beneficial values and limited know how andrnskill were mentioned to be the major once. Farm and off-farm wage employment is alsornaccommodating a small number of youths. Only 13 percent of the local youths are engage in suchrnactivities. In general the youths in Merhabete Woreda encounter various challenges to improve theirrnlivelihood since they have limited job opportuniry at local level to diversify their source ofrnlivelihoods.rnTherefore, based on the study findings some recommendations are forward ed. Short term measuresrnincluding distribution of mountainous and unoccupied land available at local level for the rural youthrnindividually or in group base to benefit from and conserve the natural resources is essential. Inrnaddition the youili should allow having access to use and to fully participate in decision makingrnprocess at household and communiry level. Concerned efforts are also required to make the ruralrnnon-farm sector youth friendly through policy and strategy formulation at grass root level. EffortSrnalso needed to expand the credit and training services provided at the Woreda rowns to all ruralrnKebeles. There is also a need to formulate all rounded employment policy which aimed at solvingrnthe problem of the youth at a grass root level.