Over 38 million people aged 18-24 live in the European Union (EU). The vast majority of these young people are in education or training and/or in employment. In 2017, 40.4% of those aged 18-24 responded that they were in education, 27.4% stated they were in employment and a further 17.8% that they were in a mix of education and employment. This means that last year, 14.3% of young people aged 18-24 in the EU were NEET, meaning neither in employment nor in education or training.
Since 2012, in the EU, the proportion of young people aged 18-24 neither in employment nor in education or training has decreased continuously, from a high point of 17.2% to the current 14.3%, which is roughly similar to the pre-crisis levels (up to 2008).
Largest share of NEET aged 18-24 in Italy, lowest in the Netherlands
Last year, one in four young people aged 18-24 was neither in employment nor in education or training in Italy (25.7%) and about 1 in 5 in Cyprus (22.7%), Greece (21.4%), Croatia (20.2%), Romania (19.3%) and Bulgaria (18.6%). A NEET rate above 15% was also registered in Spain (17.1%), followed by France (15.6%) and Slovakia (15.3%).
In contrast, the lowest proportion of NEETs aged 18-24 was recorded in the Netherlands (5.3%), ahead of Slovenia (8.0%), Austria (8.1%), Luxembourg and Sweden (both 8.2%), the Czech Republic (8.3%), Malta (8.5%), Germany (8.6%) and Denmark (9.2%).
At EU level, nearly 5.5 million young persons aged 18-24 (14.3%) were in 2017 neither in employment nor in education or training. This is the equivalent of the total populations of Slovakia or Finland.
The source dataset can be found here.
For more information please contact us: estat-user-support@ec.europa.eu.