EU's youth unemployment and education rates improve

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The percentage of young people in the EU between the ages of 15 and 29 who were neither employed nor in education or training (NEET) was 11.0% in 2025, compared to 11.1% in 2024 and 15.2% in 2015. 

The percentage of people between the ages of 15 and 29 who are unemployed and do not pursue further education or training, whether official or informal, is known as the "young people neither in employment nor in education and training" (NEET) indicator. It focuses on the amount of young people who find themselves disengaged from both education and the labor market and offers information on the shift from school to the workforce.

As stated in the European Pillar of Social Rights, this moves the EU closer to reaching its target of lowering youth NEET rates to 9% by 2030. Young people's NEET rates varied by age. Just 5.3% of the youngest (15–19 years old) were NEET, however the rate more than doubled for those in the 20–24 and 25–29 age groups.

In 22 out of 27 EU nations, the NEET rate dropped between 2015 and 2025. Italy (12.4 percentage points (pp), from 25.7% to 13.3%), Greece (10.5 pp, from 24.1% to 13.6%), and Croatia (9.0 pp, from 19.8% to 10.8%) had the biggest declines.

This data shows EU's progress in reducing youth disengagement from education and employment.