Which is the European country with more NEETs?

Around one in six (16.5 %) of young people aged 20-34 were neither in employment nor in education and training (NEET) in the European Union (EU) in 2018. This corresponds to approximately 15 million young people, according to Eurostat. The rate of NEETs is much higher among European young females (20.9%) than among the males (12.2%). 

In Finland the average rate of NEETs, this means person not employed nor engaged on any kind of formal or non-formal education, is good 3 points lower (13.1%) than the EU average.

Image source: Eurostat.

However, the Finnish figures show also important gender differences, in line with the situation in the rest of Europe: while the rate of NEETs is 10.4% among males, among females it raises to 15.9%.

Differences across the continent

The share of people not in employment, education or training (the NEET rate) for those aged 20-34 varied considerably across the EU Member States in 2018.

For the 19 countries of the Euro area (those who share the single currency) the rates are slightly higher than for the EU-28 in aggregated terms (17.2%) and for the men (13.7%). In the case of women, the rate of NEETs is the same as for the whole of the EU (20.9%).

The lowest NEET rates for people aged 20–34 in 2018 were recorded in Sweden (8.0%), the Netherlands (8.4%), Luxembourg (9.9%) and Malta (10.1%).

In contrast, the highest NEET rates were recorded in Italy (28.9%) and Greece (26.8%). In these two Member States, more than a quarter of all young people aged 20–34 were neither in employment nor in education and training.

There is a considerable difference in the NEET rate between young women and young men. For women aged 20-34, the NEET rate in 2018 was 20.9%, compared with 12.2% for 20-34 year old men.

Image Source: Eurostat.