Young people neither working nor learning

Name: Young people neither working nor learning, 2025
Creator: Civitascope
Published: 2026-11-03T16:05:14+00:00
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Topic: Work and income

In Romania, 19.2% of young people aged 15 to 29 are neither in employment nor in education or training, against 5.3% in the Netherlands.

In 2025, 11.0% of young people aged 15 to 29 in the EU were neither in employment nor in education or training. That counts everyone without a job who took part in no education or training in the four weeks before the survey.

The EU aims to bring the share of young people aged 15 to 29 neither in employment nor in education or training down to 9% by 2030.

These figures are not from Eurostat. Sources: European Commission, The European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, COM(2021) 102 final, page 7 (retrieved 3 November 2026)

Figures for:: 2025.
Covers:: the whole year.
New data:: once a year.
Dataset updated:: 30 October 2026.

Published 3 November 2026

27 / 27 EU countries ranked

The ranking

In 2025, the share of young people aged 15 to 29 neither in employment nor in education or training ranged from 5.3% in the Netherlands to 19.2% in Romania.

Share of young people aged 15 to 29 neither in employment nor in education or training, %

2025 · aged 15 to 29

05101520%

Rank 1: Romania, 19.2 %

Rank 2: Bulgaria, 13.8 %

Rank 3: Greece, 13.6 %

Rank 4: Italy, 13.3 %

Rank 5: France, 12.9 %

Rank 6: Lithuania, 12.4 %

Rank 7: Spain, 11.5 %

Rank 8: Estonia, 11.2 %

Rank 8: Finland, 11.2 %

Rank 10: Slovakia, 11.1 %

Rank 11: Latvia, 11.0 %

Rank 12: Croatia, 10.8 %

Rank 13: Cyprus, 10.6 %

Rank 13: Hungary, 10.6 %

Rank 15: Austria, 10.3 %

Rank 16: Belgium, 9.8 %

Rank 17: Germany, 9.5 %

Rank 18: Poland, 9.2 %

Rank 19: Luxembourg, 9.0 %

Rank 20: Denmark, 8.9 %

Rank 21: Malta, 8.5 %

Rank 22: Ireland, 8.1 %

Rank 23: Czechia, 8.0 %

Rank 23: Portugal, 8.0 %

Rank 25: Slovenia, 7.6 %

Rank 26: Sweden, 5.9 %

Rank 27: Netherlands, 5.3 %

How to read: bars start at zero. Every country with a value is shown, ranked from highest to lowest.Source: Eurostat, Young persons neither in employment nor in education and training by NUTS 2 region (NEET rates) (edat_lfse_22).Chart: Civitascope (civitascope.eu) · CC BY 4.0 · Download image · Download data ·

Women and men

Among young men, the spread across countries was narrower. Romania was again the highest, at 13.8%, and Czechia and the Netherlands were the lowest, at 4.5%. The highest and the lowest were 9.3 percentage points apart.

Among young women, the spread across countries was much wider. Romania was again the highest, at 25.0%, and the Netherlands the lowest, at 6.0%. The gap was 19.0 percentage points.

Share of young people aged 15 to 29 neither in employment nor in education or training: men and women, %

2025 · aged 15 to 29

MenWomenWomen − menDifference

510152025%

Rank 1: Romania, Men: 13.8 %, Women: 25.0 %, Women − men: +11.2

Rank 2: Bulgaria, Men: 11.6 %, Women: 16.2 %, Women − men: +4.6

Rank 3: Italy, Men: 11.8 %, Women: 14.9 %, Women − men: +3.1

Rank 4: Greece, Men: 13.2 %, Women: 14.0 %, Women − men: +0.8

Rank 5: France, Men: 12.7 %, Women: 13.2 %, Women − men: +0.5

Rank 6: Hungary, Men: 8.4 %, Women: 12.8 %, Women − men: +4.4

Rank 7: Slovakia, Men: 9.5 %, Women: 12.7 %, Women − men: +3.2

Rank 8: Cyprus, Men: 9.0 %, Women: 12.3 %, Women − men: +3.3

Rank 8: Lithuania, Women: 12.3 %, Men: 12.4 %, Women − men: −0.1

Rank 10: Czechia, Men: 4.5 %, Women: 11.9 %, Women − men: +7.4

Rank 11: Spain, Men: 11.4 %, Women: 11.5 %, Women − men: +0.1

Rank 12: Latvia, Men: 10.8 %, Women: 11.3 %, Women − men: +0.5

Rank 13: Poland, Men: 7.3 %, Women: 11.1 %, Women − men: +3.8

Rank 14: Croatia, Men: 10.6 %, Women: 10.9 %, Women − men: +0.3

Rank 14: Finland, Women: 10.9 %, Men: 11.4 %, Women − men: −0.5

Rank 16: Germany, Men: 8.5 %, Women: 10.6 %, Women − men: +2.1

Rank 17: Austria, Men: 10.0 %, Women: 10.5 %, Women − men: +0.5

Rank 18: Malta, Men: 6.9 %, Women: 10.4 %, Women − men: +3.5

Rank 19: Estonia, Women: 10.3 %, Men: 12.2 %, Women − men: −1.9

Rank 20: Belgium, Women: 9.6 %, Men: 10.1 %, Women − men: −0.5

Rank 20: Luxembourg, Men: 8.4 %, Women: 9.6 %, Women − men: +1.2

Rank 22: Denmark, Men: 8.3 %, Women: 9.5 %, Women − men: +1.2

Rank 23: Ireland, Men: 7.8 %, Women: 8.5 %, Women − men: +0.7

Rank 24: Slovenia, Men: 7.1 %, Women: 8.1 %, Women − men: +1.0

Rank 25: Portugal, Women: 7.9 %, Men: 8.1 %, Women − men: −0.2

Rank 26: Sweden, Men: 5.4 %, Women: 6.6 %, Women − men: +1.2

Rank 27: Netherlands, Men: 4.5 %, Women: 6.0 %, Women − men: +1.5

How to read: the filled dot is women, the outlined dot men, each with its value beside it. The column on the right is their difference, women − men. Countries are ranked by women.Source: Eurostat, Young persons neither in employment nor in education and training by NUTS 2 region (NEET rates) (edat_lfse_22).Chart: Civitascope (civitascope.eu) · CC BY 4.0 · Download image · Download data ·

	Everyone	Men	Women
Lowest	5.3%the Netherlands	4.5%Czechia and the Netherlands	6.0%the Netherlands
Highest	19.2%Romania	13.8%Romania	25.0%Romania
Highest − lowest	13.9 pp	9.3 pp	19.0 pp

Everyone

Lowest: 5.3% (the Netherlands)Highest: 19.2% (Romania)Highest − lowest: 13.9 pp

Men

Lowest: 4.5% (Czechia and the Netherlands)Highest: 13.8% (Romania)Highest − lowest: 9.3 pp

Women

Lowest: 6.0% (the Netherlands)Highest: 25.0% (Romania)Highest − lowest: 19.0 pp

About the data

The share of young people in an age group who are neither in employment nor in education and training (NEET). They are not employed and have had no formal or non-formal education or training in the four weeks before the survey.

Counted: aged 15 to 29.

Eurostat: “The indicator young people neither in employment nor in education and training, abbreviated as NEET, corresponds to the percentage of the population of a given age group and sex who is not employed and not involved in further education or training.” (source)

EU Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS), a sample survey of households run by the national statistical institutes.

How to read these numbers

Different definitions

Spain's and France's values from 2021 are marked by Eurostat as following a different definition (flag d). Both countries still decide whether people on temporary lay-off count as employed by the rules used until 2020. This concerns France (2025) and Spain (2025).

Sources and data

Eurostat, Young persons neither in employment nor in education and training by NUTS 2 region (NEET rates) (edat_lfse_22). Data updated 30 October 2026, retrieved 3 November 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.

Eurostat metadata · Eurostat methodology

The exact Eurostat API query

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/api/dissemination/statistics/1.0/data/edat_lfse_22?format=JSON&lang=en&age=Y15-29&freq=A&geo=AT&geo=BE&geo=BG&geo=CY&geo=CZ&geo=DE&geo=DK&geo=EE&geo=EL&geo=ES&geo=EU27_2020&geo=FI&geo=FR&geo=HR&geo=HU&geo=IE&geo=IT&geo=LT&geo=LU&geo=LV&geo=MT&geo=NL&geo=PL&geo=PT&geo=RO&geo=SE&geo=SI&geo=SK&sex=T&training=NO_FE_NO_NFE&unit=PC&wstatus=NEMP

How every number in this story was computed