Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

E2: Environmental statistics and accounts; sustainable development

e-mail contact: ESTAT-SDI-EU2020-INDICATORS@ec.europa.eu

The indicator is part of the EU Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicator set. It is used to monitor progress towards SDG 8 on decent work and economic growth and SDG 4 on ensuring inclusive and quality education for all.

SDG 8 recognises the importance of sustained economic growth and high levels of economic productivity for the creation of well-paid quality jobs and the achievement of global prosperity. SDG 8 draws particular attention to creating opportunities for the youth who are not in education, employment and training in order to prevent future erosion of skills and job discouragement. SDG 4 seeks to ensure that people have access to equitable and quality education through all stages of life, from early childhood education and care, through primary and secondary schooling, to technical, vocational training and tertiary education.

Indicator can be considered as identical with global SDG indicator 8.6.1 "Proportion of youth (aged 15-24 years) not in education, employment or training". Furthermore, it is included as main indicator in the Social Scoreboard for the European Pillar of Social Rights.

The European Social Fund and the Youth Employment Initiative support measures that focus on quality employment and quality apprenticeships.The EU has also contributed to the elaboration of the Youth Guarantee to support the employment and education of young people.

The indicator measures the share of the population aged 15 to 29 who is not employed and not involved in education or training.

The numerator of the indicator refers to persons who meet the following two conditions: (a) they are not employed (i.e. unemployed or inactive according to the International Labour Organisation definition) and (b) they have not received any education or training (i.e. neither formal nor non-formal) in the four weeks preceding the Labour Force Survey (LFS).

The denominator includes the total population aged 15 to 29 (excluding those who did not answer the questions on 'participation in regular (formal) education and training').

% of the population aged 15 to 29

Calendar year

The indicator is produced according to the high-level quality standards of European Statistics. Details on accuracy can be found in the metadata of the source datasets (see link to related metadata).

ESS (LFS)

Data source: ESS Labour Force Survey (LFS)

Data provider: Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, based on data reported by the countries.

Every year

The indicator is updated annually in April.

T+1 year

New data points are disseminated within one year after the reference year.

All EU MS

Data are presented for all EU Member States plus the United Kingdom, Iceland, Norway, Siwtzerland, North Macedonia and Turkey.

All EU MS

Data are comparable between all EU Member States respectively other presented countries.

> 10 years

Presented times series (including EU aggregates) starts in 2000.

> 4 data points

Length of comparable time series without methodological break is longer than 4 data points.

Analysis of indicator is presented in Eurostat's annual monitoring report on Sustainable development in the EU (progress towards SDGs in the EU context).

see table  sdg_08_20

Eurostat dedicated section on SDGs: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/sdi/overview

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