Over 38 million people aged 18-24 live in the European Union (EU). The vast majority of these young people are in education or training and/or in employment. In 2017, 40.4% of those aged 18-24 responded that they were in education, 27.4% stated they were in employment and a further 17.8% that they were in a mix of education and employment. This means that last year, 14.3% of young people aged 18-24 in the EU were NEET, meaning neither in employment nor in education or training, Eurostat informs.
Since 2012, in the EU, the proportion of young people aged 18-24 neither in employment nor in education or training has decreased continuously, from a high point of 17.2% to the current 14.3%, which is roughly similar to the pre-crisis levels (up to 2008).
Last year, one in four young people aged 18-24 was neither in employment nor in education or training in Italy (25.7%) and about 1 in 5 in Cyprus (22.7%), Greece (21.4%), Croatia (20.2%), Romania (19.3%) and Bulgaria (18.6%). A NEET rate above 15% was also registered in Spain (17.1%), followed by France (15.6%) and Slovakia (15.3%).
In contrast, the lowest proportion of NEETs aged 18-24 was recorded in the Netherlands (5.3%), ahead of Slovenia (8.0%), Austria (8.1%), Luxembourg and Sweden (both 8.2%), the Czech Republic (8.3%), Malta (8.5%), Germany (8.6%) and Denmark (9.2%).
At EU level, nearly 5.5 million young persons aged 18-24 (14.3%) were in 2017 neither in employment nor in education or training. This is the equivalent of the total populations of Slovakia or Finland.