Countries by Youth NEET Rate
Complete ranking of 37 countries • Percentage of population aged 15-24 years • Updated 2026
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About Youth NEET Rate Rankings
Turkey leads all 37 countries in Youth NEET Rate with a value of 23.22% of youth 15-24, while Netherlands ranks last at 4.14% of youth 15-24. This represents a 6-fold difference between the highest and lowest values.
What Youth NEET Rate Measures
Share of 15-24 year olds who are not working and not in school, university, or training, from OECD How's Life / Well-Being.
Why This Ranking Matters
Examining Youth NEET Rate across all countries reveals patterns that might not be obvious at the national level. Regional clusters, outlier nations, and historical trajectories all become clearer when the full global picture is assembled in a single ranking.
Global Range
Values range from 4.14% of youth 15-24 (Netherlands) to 23.22% of youth 15-24 (Turkey) — a 6-fold difference across 37 countries.
Regional Patterns
European countries dominate this ranking, holding 13 of the top 20 positions. This strong regional concentration suggests shared economic, geographic, or policy factors that drive higher values across the continent.
Values are broadly distributed across countries, with the middle 50% ranging from 8.04% of youth 15-24 to 12.92% of youth 15-24. The overall spread from 4.14% of youth 15-24 to 23.22% of youth 15-24 reflects significant global variation.
Notable Outliers
The top of the ranking is competitive: Turkey and Colombia are separated by only 0%, indicating that the leading positions could shift with updated data.
Continental Leaders
Highest Youth NEET Rate
The 5 strongest Youth NEET Rate reads.
Lowest Youth NEET Rate
The 5 lowest Youth NEET Rate reads.
Data Note
Rankings are based on the latest available data from OECD How's Life / Well-Being, covering 37 of 249 countries and territories. Countries without data for this metric are excluded from the ranking. All values represent the most recently reported figures.
Top 10 Countries
Country Ladder
| Percentile | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Turkey | 23.22% of youth 15-24 | Europe | 100% |
| 2nd | Colombia | 23.15% of youth 15-24 | North America | 97% |
| 3rd | Costa Rica | 20.74% of youth 15-24 | North America | 95% |
| 4th | Mexico | 15.88% of youth 15-24 | North America | 92% |
| 5th | Israel | 15.07% of youth 15-24 | Asia | 89% |
| 6th | Lithuania | 14.93% of youth 15-24 | Europe | 86% |
| 7th | Chile | 14.91% of youth 15-24 | South America | 84% |
| 8th | United Kingdom | 13.75% of youth 15-24 | Europe | 81% |
| 9th | Spain | 13.38% of youth 15-24 | Europe | 78% |
| 10th | Italy | 12.92% of youth 15-24 | Europe | 76% |
| 11th | France | 12.52% of youth 15-24 | Europe | 73% |
| 12th | Greece | 12.23% of youth 15-24 | Europe | 70% |
| 13th | Belgium | 12.07% of youth 15-24 | Europe | 68% |
| 14th | Portugal | 12.06% of youth 15-24 | Europe | 65% |
| 15th | Hungary | 11.91% of youth 15-24 | Europe | 62% |
| 16th | United States | 11.82% of youth 15-24 | North America | 59% |
| 17th | New Zealand | 10.99% of youth 15-24 | Oceania | 57% |
| 18th | Austria | 10.75% of youth 15-24 | Europe | 54% |
| 19th | Finland | 10.03% of youth 15-24 | Europe | 51% |
| 20th | Switzerland | 10.0% of youth 15-24 | Europe | 49% |
| 21st | Canada | 9.8% of youth 15-24 | North America | 46% |
| 22nd | Estonia | 9.6% of youth 15-24 | Europe | 43% |
| 23rd | Poland | 9.2% of youth 15-24 | Europe | 41% |
| 24th | Slovakia | 9.0% of youth 15-24 | Europe | 38% |
| 25th | Luxembourg | 8.8% of youth 15-24 | Europe | 35% |
| 26th | Australia | 8.5% of youth 15-24 | Oceania | 32% |
| 27th | Denmark | 8.4% of youth 15-24 | Europe | 30% |
| 28th | Germany | 8.0% of youth 15-24 | Europe | 27% |
| 29th | Slovenia | 7.9% of youth 15-24 | Europe | 24% |
| 30th | Latvia | 7.8% of youth 15-24 | Europe | 22% |
| 31st | Sweden | 7.0% of youth 15-24 | Europe | 19% |
| 32nd | Ireland | 6.5% of youth 15-24 | Europe | 16% |
| 33rd | Japan | 6.0% of youth 15-24 | Asia | 14% |
| 34th | Iceland | 4.7% of youth 15-24 | Europe | 11% |
| 35th | Norway | 4.6% of youth 15-24 | Europe | 8% |
| 36th | Czechia | 4.5% of youth 15-24 | Europe | 5% |
| 37th | Netherlands | 4.1% of youth 15-24 | Europe | 3% |