ILO · Youth Not in Education, Employment or Training
Youth not in education, employment or training (NEET) by country
What share of young people are neither working nor studying?
Of the 97 countries compared in 2024, Iceland had the lowest reading, 3.975%, and Belarus had the highest reading, 65.734%. In the middle country the figure was 14.306%. Among the 37 countries measured in every edition since 2002, the middle one moved from 12.828% to 10.233%.
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Part ofWork & Labour
Youth not in education, employment or training (NEET) · 2024
Context statistic
Lowest of 97Iceland
3.975%012024 · position · derived
Who leads
The three countries at the lowest end of 97 compared, the three at the other end, and the first on each continent.
1Photo: Hansueli Krapf · CC BY-SA 3.0, greyscale
2Photo: Traveler100 · CC BY-SA 3.0, greyscale
3Photo: john mcsporran from Trossachs, Scotland · CC BY 2.0, greyscale
02Every measured country
Youth not in education, employment or training (NEET) on a map
Each country is shaded by its value, in five groups holding the same number of countries. Hover a country for its value, or select it to open its profile. Below the map, each continent’s middle country.
Darker is a lower value — the better end.
- 24.030–65.734%
- 16.324–23.910%
- 12.824–16.163%
- 8.530–12.780%
- 3.975–8.424%
- No reading in 2024 (84 measured in an earlier edition)
- Europe
9.980%
the middle country, of 39 measured · 49 members
Iceland3.975%
Belarus65.734%Lowest and highest reading in Europe.
- Asia
15.797%
the middle country, of 18 measured · 52 members
Hong Kong5.668%
Jordan29.390%Lowest and highest reading in Asia.
- Americas
17.303%
the middle country, of 18 measured · 48 members
Bolivia8.021%
Honduras30.750%Lowest and highest reading in Americas.
- Africa
25.213%
the middle country, of 18 measured · 55 members
Nigeria11.909%
Malawi39.419%Lowest and highest reading in Africa.
- Oceania
4 of 21 measured — too few for a middle: Australia, Fiji, Nauru, New Zealand.
Australia8.530%
Nauru50.410%Lowest and highest reading in Oceania.
- Every region
20 sub-regions, lowest middle country first
- Northern Europe
7.588%
the middle country, of 10 measured · 13 members
Iceland3.975%
Lithuania14.912%Lowest and highest reading in Northern Europe.
- Western Europe
8.147%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 9 members
Netherlands4.140%
Austria13.265%Lowest and highest reading in Western Europe.
- Eastern Europe
10.543%
the middle country, of 9 measured · 10 members
Czechia4.617%Belarus65.734%Lowest and highest reading in Eastern Europe.
- Southern Europe
11.959%
the middle country, of 13 measured · 17 members
Slovenia7.125%
Kosovo30.040%Lowest and highest reading in Southern Europe.
- Western Asia
16.163%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 19 members
Cyprus13.172%Jordan29.390%Lowest and highest reading in Western Asia.
- South America
16.324%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 12 members
Bolivia8.021%
Colombia23.152%Lowest and highest reading in South America.
- Central America
19.409%
the middle country, of 6 measured · 8 members
Panama14.704%Honduras30.750%Lowest and highest reading in Central America.
- Southern Asia
20.543%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 9 members
Bangladesh15.431%
Iran24.322%Lowest and highest reading in Southern Asia.
- Western Africa
23.910%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 16 members
Nigeria11.909%
Senegal35.174%Lowest and highest reading in Western Africa.
- Eastern Africa
25.862%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 19 members
Tanzania12.828%Malawi39.419%Lowest and highest reading in Eastern Africa.
- Australia and New Zealand
2 of 2 measured — too few for a middle: Australia, New Zealand.
Australia8.530%
New Zealand12.780%Lowest and highest reading in Australia and New Zealand.
- Caribbean
3 of 24 measured — too few for a middle: Dominican Republic, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago.
Trinidad and Tobago15.847%
Dominican Republic25.688%Lowest and highest reading in Caribbean.
- Eastern Asia
2 of 8 measured — too few for a middle: Hong Kong, Mongolia.
Hong Kong5.668%
Mongolia9.903%Lowest and highest reading in Eastern Asia.
- Melanesia
1 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Fiji.
Fiji20.786%Lowest and highest reading in Melanesia.
- Micronesia
1 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Nauru.
Nauru50.410%Lowest and highest reading in Micronesia.
- Middle Africa
2 of 9 measured — too few for a middle: Angola, Gabon.
Gabon20.207%
Angola24.564%Lowest and highest reading in Middle Africa.
- Northern Africa
1 of 6 measured — too few for a middle: Egypt.
Egypt23.776%Lowest and highest reading in Northern Africa.
- Northern America
2 of 4 measured — too few for a middle: Canada, United States.
United States11.597%
Canada12.959%Lowest and highest reading in Northern America.
- South-eastern Asia
4 of 11 measured — too few for a middle: Brunei, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam.
Singapore6.446%
Brunei19.049%Lowest and highest reading in South-eastern Asia.
- Southern Africa
3 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Botswana, Lesotho, South Africa.
South Africa34.610%
Botswana37.998%Lowest and highest reading in Southern Africa.
03The whole field at once
The spread
97 countries, one dot each, on one scale — further right is a higher value. Half the countries are above 14.306%; a quarter are above 22.627%, and a quarter below 9.980%. The bar in each row marks that continent’s middle country.
04All 181 ever measured
Every country
In order, highest value first — position 1 is the highest value, the way ILO’s own tables read. “=” marks a position shared with another country. International Labour Organization (ILO) ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. The country set changes from year to year, so this table is not a full world ranking — a country absent from it did not run a labour force survey, which is not the same as having no disconnected young people. Coverage is thinnest in exactly the places where the rate tends to be highest.
Showing 25 of 181 countries
Values for 2024. The change column compares 2024 with 2023 only; the sparkline covers the recent editions.
052002–2024 · 23 editions
Over time
Each point is one reference year from 2002. Because only countries that ran a labour force survey that year appear, a break in the line is a missing survey rather than a missing problem.
- the middle country
- the middle half of countries
- the middle of the 37 countries measured every time
- each continent’s middle country
The same, year by year
| Year | Countries | Middle country | Middle half | Measured every time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 97 | 14.306% | 9.980% – 22.627% | 10.233% |
| 2023 | 104 | 14.982% | 9.773% – 22.074% | 9.874% |
| 2022 | 115 | 16.882% | 10.898% – 24.375% | 10.500% |
| 2021 | 108 | 17.967% | 11.386% – 26.142% | 11.410% |
| 2020 | 104 | 17.965% | 11.608% – 26.340% | 11.743% |
| 2019 | 120 | 17.882% | 11.013% – 26.865% | 10.479% |
| 2018 | 103 | 17.830% | 10.377% – 26.369% | 10.422% |
| 2017 | 112 | 18.432% | 11.024% – 26.993% | 11.039% |
| 2016 | 105 | 18.193% | 10.914% – 25.759% | 12.017% |
| 2015 | 94 | 17.828% | 11.069% – 23.341% | 12.442% |
| 2014 | 113 | 17.452% | 11.840% – 24.885% | 13.589% |
| 2013 | 100 | 17.434% | 11.113% – 23.245% | 14.127% |
| 2012 | 97 | 16.836% | 12.260% – 22.700% | 13.908% |
| 2011 | 93 | 17.162% | 11.568% – 22.400% | 13.267% |
| 2010 | 96 | 17.381% | 11.206% – 24.346% | 13.697% |
| 2009 | 88 | 17.443% | 10.719% – 25.081% | 13.502% |
| 2008 | 70 | 13.511% | 9.691% – 21.769% | 11.432% |
| 2007 | 71 | 13.051% | 10.653% – 23.122% | 11.165% |
| 2006 | 71 | 14.299% | 10.669% – 23.148% | 11.464% |
| 2005 | 67 | 17.459% | 11.873% – 24.518% | 13.147% |
| 2004 | 55 | 15.137% | 10.320% – 21.579% | 12.378% |
| 2003 | 55 | 16.264% | 10.309% – 21.932% | 12.116% |
| 2002 | 50 | 14.189% | 10.248% – 23.879% | 12.828% |
062023 → 2024
Who rose and fell
The biggest changes in value between the two newest editions. Places are shown second, because they also move when other countries do.
Improved most
before → after
Burkina Faso34.250% → 21.634% · 5th → 26th−12.616
Saint Lucia30.931% → 22.627% · 9th → 25th−8.304- Mongolia14.622% → 9.903% · 55th → 74th−4.719
Seychelles20.365% → 16.932% · 33rd → 39th−3.433
Mauritius17.370% → 13.944% · 44th → 53rd−3.426
89 countries were measured in both 2023 and 2024. The field changed from 104 to 97 countries, so a place can move for reasons that have nothing to do with the country itself.
07Across every edition
Youth not in education, employment or training (NEET) in records
The extremes of the statistic. A record reached by more than one country names none of them.
Highest reading on record
68.658%
Youth not in education, employment or training (%)
Lowest reading on record
2.970%
Youth not in education, employment or training (%)
Biggest improvement between editions
−27.646
41.004% → 13.358%
Biggest decline between editions
+26.704
13.233% → 39.937%
Most improved since first measured
−36.203
52.050% → 15.847%
At the top most often
7 of 23
editions, alone at the first-listed end
08The measure
About youth not in education, employment or training (NEET)
The NEET rate is the share of 15-to-24-year-olds who are neither in work nor in education or training. It is the broadest measure of young people disconnected from both the labour market and the school system, and it catches what youth unemployment misses.
What the number is: Youth not in education, employment or training (%).
09Where it fits
Connections
Its part in the Country Index, the statistics whose values line up most closely with it across countries, and others on the same subject.
In the Country Index
Context, with no vote
This statistic is published in full under Work & Labour, but does not help decide any Country Index standing.
Moves with
Where youth not in education, employment or training (NEET) is higher, these tend to be higher too.
- Gender Inequality IndexUNDP Human Development Report Office · 92 countries in commonρ 0.76
- Coefficient of Human InequalityUNDP Human Development Report Office · 94 countries in commonρ 0.74
- Stillbirth RateUN IGME · 96 countries in commonρ 0.71
Moves against
Where youth not in education, employment or training (NEET) is higher, these tend to be lower.
- Inequality-adjusted Human Development IndexUNDP Human Development Report Office · 94 countries in commonρ −0.80
- Women's Empowerment IndexUNDP Human Development Report Office and UN Women · 80 countries in commonρ −0.80
- Human Capital IndexWorld Bank Group · 94 countries in commonρ −0.79
Rank correlation (ρ, from −1 to 1) across countries, on each statistic’s newest edition, out of 277 statistics sharing at least 80 countries with this one. Two statistics that move together do not cause each other.
10Keep reading
Explore further
The subject
11Questions
Youth not in education, employment or training (NEET): questions and answers
Which country has the lowest youth not in education, employment or training (NEET)?
Iceland, at 3.975%, among the 97 countries compared in 2024.
Which country has the highest youth not in education, employment or training (NEET)?
Belarus, at 65.734%, among the 97 countries compared in 2024.
How many countries does the Youth Not in Education, Employment or Training cover?
97 in 2024, and 181 at least once across all editions. The number measured varies from 50 to 120 between editions.
What is the world average youth not in education, employment or training (NEET)?
This site does not calculate a world average, which would depend on how countries are weighted. In the middle country of the 97 compared in 2024, the figure was 14.306%.
Is this International Labour Organization (ILO)’s own ranking?
No. International Labour Organization (ILO) publishes the values but ranks nobody; the position on this page is derived by Nations Inquiry by ordering the published values, and equal values share a position.
How often is the Youth Not in Education, Employment or Training published?
This site holds 23 editions, describing 2002 to 2024.
Where does the data come from, and can I download it?
From International Labour Organization (ILO), under CC BY 4.0. From the ILO’s Labour Force Statistics database, pulled through the World Bank’s indicator API (SL.UEM.NEET.ZS). Measured rather than modelled, so years reporting fewer than 50 countries are not imported. Every edition is on this site’s Datasets pages as a full table, and downloads as a CSV file with every value unrounded.
12Method
Sources, method and citation
Source
Youth Not in Education, Employment or Training — International Labour Organization (ILO)
From the ILO’s Labour Force Statistics database, pulled through the World Bank’s indicator API (SL.UEM.NEET.ZS). Measured rather than modelled, so years reporting fewer than 50 countries are not imported.
Newest edition
Report year 2024Data year 2024
Cite the source as: International Labour Organization. Labour Force Statistics database (LFS). Geneva: ILOSTAT.
Licence: CC BY 4.0, checked 2026-09-10.
How this page reads the numbers
- International Labour Organization (ILO) ranks nobody on this measure. The position is derived by Nations Inquiry by ordering the published values; equal values share a position.
- Which end is better follows the publisher’s own reading of the measure.
- A country is named at an end only when it holds that value alone. Where several share it, the page says how many and names none first.
- Values are stored exactly as published and trimmed only for display. “The middle country” is the median of the countries measured, not a world average.
The file itself, column by column — where it came from, what each column holds, and every edition as a CSV — is on its dataset page.
Photographs
The countries at the top of this statistic, from their profiles: Wikimedia Commons, shown in greyscale, each used under the licence named.
- Iceland — Hansueli Krapf, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Netherlands — Traveler100, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Czechia — john mcsporran from Trossachs, Scotland, CC BY 2.0
Cite this page
Nations Inquiry (2026). Youth not in education, employment or training (NEET) by country: Youth Not in Education, Employment or Training, data from International Labour Organization (ILO). https://nationsinquiry.com/statistics/youth-neet