Unemployment and Inactivity Affect Young People Globally

Between 10 percent and more than 30 percent of young people across world regions experience unemployment or educational and economic inactivity, a recent report by the International Labour Organization shows. For two years in a row, these numbers have been on the rise once more, prompting the ILO to caution global stakeholders to take action against youth labor force disengagement in a world economy that feels increasingly fragile to youth and adult jobseekers alike.

The most affected world regions are located in Africa, Arab states and South Asia, according to the report. While Arab states and North Africa in 2025 saw staggering unemployment of 23-26 percent of the youth labor force, this was significantly lower in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa at 14 percent and 8 percent, respectively. However, a total of 22-26 percent of the entire youth population of the latter regions was classified by the ILO as in NEET status, meaning that they are either jobseekers or entirely inactive in terms of employment, jobhunting, education or training. In Arab states and North Africa, these figures reached as high as 30-32 percent. In all four cases, big NEET population shares are in large part driven by traditional gender roles that confine young women to housework and motherhood. Sub-Saharan Africa meanwhile is also seeing pressures brought about by growing youth populations, while South Asia struggles to provide entry level jobs in particular.

Latin America as well as Central and Southeast Asia saw youth unemployment hit 10-13 percent, while inactivity affected 16 to 19 percent of youth populations. In Latin America, large economies Brazil, Mexico and Colombia bettered their results. Eastern Europe and Northern America had the fewest issues, at both unemployment and inactivity hovering around a still substantial 10 percent each. While youth unemployment has been a persistent problem in the developing world for a long time, the ILO has been seeing the issue rise in prominence in Western countries as well.

In Eastern Asia as well as Western Europe, youth unemployment actually exceeded youth inactivity by several percentage points. This is a statistical effect brought about by a very high number of people between 15 and 24 years old still engaging in education in these world regions. The youth labor force – consisting of both youth workers and young jobseekers – is therefore quite small, making the share of unemployed youths measured against it appear bigger, while making the number of NEETs measured against the entire youth population seem smaller. Sub-Saharan Africa, on the other hand, showed the NEET share exceeding the unemployed share by the most, potentially hinting at many who have given up searching for work, but also at fewer youths in education, which would counterbalance the number of NEETS and lower their relative share of the youth population.