Youth not in employment, education or training (i45)
- 31/10/2025
- objective
- assessment assessment
In 2024, 9.9% of people aged 15 to 29 in Belgium were not in employment, education or training. To achieve the sustainable development goal by 2030, this figure must be reduced to 8.6%. This objective will be reached by continuing the trend since 2000 (data available in November 2025). The proportion of youth not in employment, education or training is therefore developing favourably.
Youth not in employment, education or training - Belgium - trend assessment
percentage of population aged 15-29
| 2000 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2020 | 2023 | 2025 | 2030 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| observations | 17.2 | 14.0 | 13.0 | 14.4 | 12.0 | 9.6 | -- | -- |
| trend and extrapolation (November 2025) | 17.2 | 14.7 | 13.6 | 13.1 | 11.2 | 9.9 | 9.2 | 8.0 |
| objective 2030 | 8.6 | 8.6 | 8.6 | 8.6 | 8.6 | 8.6 | 8.6 | 8.6 |
Source: Statbel; Eurostat (2025), Young persons neither in employment nor in education and training by labour status (NEET rates), edat_lfse_20, lfsi_neet_a_h, lfsi_neet_a, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat, last update of data 12/06/2025 23:00 (consulted on 09/07/20254)
Youth not in employment, education or training - Belgium and international comparison
percentage of population aged 15-29
| 2000 | 2002 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2019 | 2020 | 2023 | 2024 | 2024//2000 | 2024//2019 | 2024//2002 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium | 17.2 | 16.4 | 14.0 | 13.0 | 14.4 | 11.8 | 12.0 | 9.6 | 9.9 | -2.3 | -3.4 | -2.3 |
| EU27 | -- | 15.9 | 15.3 | 15.4 | 15.2 | 12.5 | 13.8 | 11.2 | 11.1 | -- | -2.3 | -1.6 |
| //: Average Growth Rates | ||||||||||||
Note: break in time series: BE in 2001, 2004, 2017, 2021, 2024; EU in 2003, 2006, 2021
Source: Statbel; Eurostat (2025), Young persons neither in employment nor in education and training by labour status (NEET rates), edat_lfse_20, lfsi_neet_a_h, lfsi_neet_a, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat, last update of data 12/06/2025 23:00 (consulted on 09/07/2025).
Youth not in employment, education or training, by region - Belgium
percentage of population aged 15-29
| 2000 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2019 | 2020 | 2023 | 2024 | 2024//2000 | 2024//2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brussels-Capital Region | 25.5 | 21.6 | 21.4 | 20.6 | 18.7 | 17.9 | 11.2 | 13.1 | -2.7 | -6.9 |
| Flemish Region | 12.4 | 10.4 | 8.8 | 10.7 | 8.6 | 8.8 | 7.3 | 7.2 | -2.2 | -3.5 |
| Walloon Region | 22.8 | 17.8 | 17.2 | 18.4 | 14.7 | 15.3 | 13.0 | 13.1 | -2.3 | -2.3 |
| //: Average Growth Rates | ||||||||||
Note: break in time series: 2001, 2004, 2006, 2011, 2017, 2021, 2024
Source: Statbel; Eurostat (2025), Young persons neither in employment nor in education and training by NUTS 2 region (NEET rates), edat_lfse_22, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat, last update of data 12/06/2025 23:00 (consulted on 09/07/2025).
Youth not in employment, education or training, by sex - Belgium
percentage of population aged 15-29
| 2000 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2019 | 2020 | 2023 | 2024 | 2024//2000 | 2024//2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| females | 20.4 | 15.7 | 14.1 | 15.0 | 12.5 | 12.4 | 9.5 | 9.2 | -3.3 | -5.9 |
| males | 14.0 | 12.4 | 11.8 | 13.9 | 11.2 | 11.7 | 9.8 | 10.5 | -1.2 | -1.3 |
| //: Average Growth Rates | ||||||||||
Note: break in time series in 2001, 2004, 2017, 2021, 2024
Source: Statbel; Eurostat (2025), Young persons neither in employment nor in education and training by labour status (NEET rates), edat_lfse_20, lfsi_neet_a_h, lfsi_neet_a, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat, last update of data 12/06/2025 23:00 (consulted on 09/07/2025).
Youth not in employment, education or training, by education - Belgium
percentage of population aged 15-29
| 2000 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2019 | 2020 | 2023 | 2024 | 2024//2000 | 2024//2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| less than primary, primary and lower secondary education | 23.3 | 17.4 | 17.0 | 18.7 | 14.9 | 15.1 | 11.8 | 11.2 | -3.0 | -5.5 |
| upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education | 15.7 | 13.7 | 12.1 | 14.0 | 11.7 | 12.3 | 10.1 | 10.5 | -1.7 | -2.1 |
| tertiary education | 8.6 | 8.8 | 7.9 | 9.2 | 7.9 | 7.8 | 6.1 | 6.9 | -0.9 | -2.7 |
| //: Average Growth Rates | ||||||||||
Note: break in time series: 2001, 2004, 2006, 2011, 2017, 2021, 2024
Source: Statbel; Eurostat (2025), Young persons neither in employment nor in education and training by educational attainment level (NEET rates), edat_lfse_21, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat, last update of data 12/06/2025 23:00 (consulted on 09/07/2025).
Definition: the proportion of young people (aged 15 to 29 years) who meet the following two conditions: (a) they are not employed and (b) have not attended any training or education during the four weeks prior to the interview. The data come from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). Statistics Belgium organises this EU-harmonised survey in Belgium and makes the results available, in particular to Eurostat. The methodology of this survey has been revised several times, and comparing data across multiple years requires caution. Due to, among other things, changes in the definition of unemployment following a new European framework regulation, the data from 2021 onwards cannot be directly compared with those of 2020. From now on, persons who are temporarily unemployed for more than three months will no longer be counted as employed but as unemployed or inactive, depending on the answers to the questions on job search and availability.
The data used here come from Eurostat, which publishes detailed and comparable results between EU Member States. Since these data are based on surveys, a margin of uncertainty should be taken into account. This margin of uncertainty increases as the indicator is calculated on smaller sub-populations. The confidence intervals for these data are available on request from Statistics Belgium.
The following breakdowns are available for this indicator: region, sex and education.
Goal: the proportion of youth not in education, employment or training should not exceed 8.6% in 2030.
The Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs adopted by the UN in 2015 include target 8.6: "By 2020 substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training".
Belgium’s recovery and resilience plan endorsed the European target from the European Pillar of Social Rights: the proportion of youth not in education, employment or training should not exceed 9% of people aged 15 to 29 years by 2030. This target was further refined for Belgium to 8.6% by 2030 (European Commission, 2022; Federal Public Service Social Security, 2023).
UN indicator: the selected indicator corresponds to indicator 8.6.1 - Proportion of young people (aged 15 to 24) not in employment, education or training.
Sources
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Belgium (2021), Plan National pour la Reprise et la Résilience, https://belgium.representation.ec.europa.eu/strategie-et-priorites/le-plan-de-relance-europeen-en-belgique_fr?prefLang=en (consulted on 02/10/2025).
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European commission (2021), The European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, p. 6; https://eur-lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:b7c08d86-7cd5-11eb-9ac9-01aa75ed71a1.0001.02/DOC_1&format=PDF (consulted on 02/10/2025)
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European Commission (2022), The European Pillar of Social Rights: state of play on the national target for 2030, https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=89&furtherNews=yes&newsId=10299 (consulted on 02/10/2025).
- Federal Public Service Social Security (2023), The evolution of the social situation and social protection in Belgium 2021, https://socialsecurity.belgium.be/sites/default/files/content/docs/en/publications/silc/silc-analysis-social-situation-and-protection-belgium-2021-en.pdf (consulted on 02/10/2025).
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