In 2025, the share of young people aged 15 to 29 neither in employment nor in education or training (NEET) in the EU stood at 11%. The NEET indicator corresponds to the percentage of the population aged 15 to 29 that are not employed and not involved in further formal or non-formal education or training. The EU goal is reducing NEET rates among young people to 9% by 2030, as set out in the European Pillar of Social Rights. The European Pillar of Social Rights sets out 20 key principles and rights essential for fair and well-functioning labour markets and welfare systems. Your level of education is not a barrier: someone who has only finished middle school can also take part in the projects. Youth Works Hub sets out the current figures first and then what Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps (ESC) actually offer a young person in that situation. Our guide on what Erasmus+ is explains one programme, and what the European Solidarity Corps is explains the other.
Last updated: October 2026.
How many young people in Europe are not in work, education or training?
In 2025 in the EU, 11% of 15-29-year-olds were neither in employment nor in education and training, and the proportion ranged from 5% in the Netherlands to 19% in Romania. The lowest rates already below the target of 9% could be found in the Netherlands, Sweden, Slovenia, Czechia, Portugal, Ireland, Malta, Luxembourg and Denmark, and these countries had therefore reached the long-term EU-level target for 2030 by 2025 or earlier. There were 10 countries that recorded NEET rates above the EU average in 2025, and among these the highest rates were recorded in Italy, Greece, Bulgaria and Romania, where more than 13% of all young people aged 15-29 years were neither in employment nor in education or training. A comparison between the 2 countries with the highest and lowest NEET rates in 2025 reveals that the proportion of young adults who were NEETs was almost 4 times higher in Romania than in the Netherlands. Between 2015 and 2025, the NEET rate decreased in 22 of 27 EU countries. The share of NEETs continuously decreased from 2015 until 2019, rose with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and decreased constantly for all age groups after peaking in 2020. The share of NEETs increases with age, which is plausible since a vast majority of young people aged 15-19 years in the EU remain in education and training, either formal or non-formal. Our guide on which programme is right for you is the shortest way into the options.
Which young people are most likely to be NEET?
High NEET rates for people with a low level of education and low NEET rates for people with a high level of education are common. In 2025, the share of young people (aged 15-29) in the EU who were NEETs was lowest in cities but higher in towns and suburbs, and rural areas. The pattern of lowest NEET rates in cities, as compared with both rural areas and towns and suburbs, was repeated in 14 EU countries. Among the wide range of factors that may contribute to young people being NEET are having a low or medium level of educational attainment, living in a household with a low level of income, coming from a family where a parent experienced unemployment, being raised by a single parent, living in a rural area, having been born in a country outside the EU, and having a disability. In the European Solidarity Corps, young people with fewer opportunities are young people who are at a disadvantage compared to their peers because they face one or more exclusion factors and obstacles. Individuals struggling to perform in education and training systems for various reasons, early school-leavers, NEETs and low-skilled adults may face barriers. Our guide on inclusion support in Erasmus+ and ESC explains the extra support, and first generation or low income is written for readers who assume these programmes are not for them.
Are young women more likely to be NEET than young men, and why?
Young women are more likely to be NEET than young men. There are a range of factors that may explain the gender gap, for example social conventions or pressures, which tend to place a higher importance on women's role within the family and on men's role to provide for the family through work. An analysis of the 3 different age groups of young people, aged 15-19, aged 20-24 and aged 25-29, shows that the EU gender gap for NEETs increased in relation to age in 2025, and as young women become older they are more often neither in employment nor in education or training. In 2025, there were 2 countries where the proportion of young female NEETs was at least 7 percentage points higher than the corresponding share for young men. However, 3 countries had higher NEET rates for men compared with women but to a much lesser extent: Estonia, Finland and Belgium. In the European Solidarity Corps, barriers can occur as a result of discrimination linked to gender, age, ethnicity, religion, beliefs, sexual orientation, disability, or intersectional factors. Our guide on facing racism or discrimination on a project sets out your rights.
What does being NEET mean for the person and for society?
There are risks, both for the individual and in the long run for society, if young adults find themselves disengaged from both education and the labour market. Young people who spend a considerable period of time as NEETs are often affected by a range of social conditions, such as poverty and social exclusion, insecurity, crime and health problems. A relatively high proportion of young people in the EU are neither in employment nor in education or training, and policymakers are increasingly concerned by the economic and social consequences of their disengagement. Over time, the transition from education to work has become more complex, and today young people are changing jobs more frequently and it takes longer to become established on the labour market, either by choice or necessity. Principle 4 of the European Pillar of Social Rights states that young people have the right to continued education, apprenticeship, traineeship or a job offer of good standing within 4 months of becoming unemployed or leaving education. Our guide on Erasmus+ and ESC after graduating or while working covers the years after school, and a funded gap year in Europe covers the funded options for a year out.
Where do Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps fit?
Non-formal and informal learning experiences have a strong potential to improve the attainment in formal education and training as well as to address young NEETs, that is young people not in employment, education or training, or young people with fewer opportunities, and combat social exclusion. The specific objective of the European Solidarity Corps is to provide young people, including young people with fewer opportunities, with easily accessible opportunities for engagement in solidarity activities that induce positive societal changes in the Union and beyond. The European Solidarity Corps also improves, recognises and offers validation of competences, and facilitates the continuous engagement of young people as active citizens. The Erasmus Impact Study of September 2014 on the Erasmus student exchange programme found that graduates with international experience are half as likely to experience long-term unemployment compared with those who have not studied or trained abroad and, five years after graduation, their unemployment rate is 23% lower. Our guide on whether Erasmus+ or ESC helps your career goes through the rest of the evidence, and what non-formal education is explains how this kind of learning works.
What does ESC offer a young person who is not in work or education right now?
The European Solidarity Corps provides accessible and flexible formats of activities, additional financial support as well as a range of support measures, for example general and language training, insurance, support before and after solidarity activities and administrative assistance, to encourage the participation of young people with fewer opportunities and better cater for their specific needs. Participation in volunteering activities must be free of charge for the volunteer. Your level of education is not a barrier: someone who has only finished middle school can also take part in the projects. Most projects accept participants with basic English, and language support is provided during the project. A young person on a project uses a foreign language daily, learns to live abroad and takes responsibility in an organisation, and these are documented gains that count in job applications. For extra support for young people with fewer opportunities, the organisation may ask for documents, especially when the need is related to health or when it involves a cost. Our guide on how to volunteer abroad for free covers the money question, and who can apply sets out the conditions.
Frequently asked questions
Is NEET the same as unemployment?
No: the NEET group also covers young people who are outside the labour force, not only those who are unemployed. NEETs may be subdivided into those who are unemployed and those who are considered outside the labour force, in other words, they do not have a job and they are not actively seeking employment.
Which EU country has the highest share of young people not in work or education?
Romania: in 2025 the proportion of 15-29-year-olds in the EU neither in employment nor in education and training ranged from 5% in the Netherlands to 19% in Romania. A comparison between the 2 countries with the highest and lowest NEET rates in 2025 reveals that the proportion of young adults who were NEETs was almost 4 times higher in Romania than in the Netherlands. Our guide on which countries can apply explains where you can apply from.
Is the situation getting better?
Between 2015 and 2025, the NEET rate decreased in 22 of 27 EU countries. In 2025 the share of NEETs was lower than before the onset of the pandemic for all age groups, which can be seen as a sign of recovery.
Do you need a diploma to join an ESC project?
No: your level of education is not a barrier, and someone who has only finished middle school can also take part in the projects. Our guide on who can apply sets out the conditions.
Does taking part cost you money?
ESC volunteering is fully funded: technically you pay nothing, although you sometimes pay costs such as tickets and visas first and are reimbursed afterwards. Our guide on whether ESC is fully funded lists what is covered.
One step back into something structured
Every young person taking part in European Solidarity Corps activities is entitled to go through the Youthpass process and receive a Youthpass certificate at the end of the process. Youthpass is not a diploma or a professional qualification and does not bring a job or recognition on its own; its value is that it makes your learning structured and easy to explain.
Youth Works Hub has a Match page that finds projects suited to you: it asks 8 questions and shows the results as a swipeable deck of cards, and saved projects stay on your profile page. Using Match requires creating an account on the site; signing up with Google is available but not required. The Youth Works Hub pages below cover the next steps.
Related pages: which programme is right for you · inclusion support in Erasmus+ and ESC · whether Erasmus+ or ESC helps your career · how to volunteer abroad for free · how to find Erasmus+ and ESC projects
👉 ESC projects: youthworkshub.org/?tab=esc-projects
👉 Erasmus+ projects: youthworkshub.org/?tab=erasmus-projects
