Key Takeaways
- Global youth unemployment: the rate climbs to 12.4%, equal to 67 million young people aged 15 to 24 without work, according to the ILO.
- The NEET phenomenon: 257 million young people (20% of the world's youth population) are not employed, not in education and not in training, an increase of 9 million compared to 2023.
- Automation risk: 6.1% of jobs held by young people are exposed to replacement through artificial intelligence, with a potential impact on 5.6 million positions.
The ILO report and the numbers behind the crisis
The global youth unemployment rate reached 12.4% in 2025, according to the latest report from the International Labour Organization. The figure corresponds to 67 million people aged 15 to 24 without a job. The most critical data point, however, concerns the so-called NEETs — young people not in employment, education or training — who now number 257 million, equal to 20% of the global youth population. That number has grown by 9 million since 2023.
The deterioration has affected 8 out of 11 subregions between 2023 and 2025, with no distinction between high, middle or low income economies. In 105 out of 193 monitored countries, young people now have fewer job opportunities than they did two years ago. The comparison with the adult population widens the gap further: the overall unemployment rate fell to 3.6%, pushing the ratio between youth and adult unemployment to 3.4 to 1, the highest level recorded in recent years.
The hardest-hit regions
North Africa and the Arab States record the most severe rates, at 22.6% and 26.2% respectively. In Libya, youth unemployment approaches 50%, while in Jordan it exceeds 40%. The ILO describes this condition as "waithood": a forced prolongation of the job search that delays marriage, housing independence and civic participation.
In North America the rate rose from 8.3% in 2023 to 9.8% in 2025. Across Northern, Southern and Western Europe, youth unemployment stands at 15%, with 20 out of 29 countries showing worsening conditions. In Italy, the overall employment rate remains stuck at 67.1%, the lowest in the European Union.
In sub-Saharan Africa, the official figure of 8.4% sits below the global average but conceals a different reality: nearly nine out of ten young workers operate in the informal economy, without contracts or social protection. Out of 304 million young African workers, 104 million live in extreme poverty according to international reference standards.
The impact of artificial intelligence
The ILO estimates that 6.1% of jobs currently held by people aged 15 to 29 fall into categories most exposed to automation, particularly clerical, administrative and support roles. Even a 10% reduction in these jobs would result in the loss of 5.6 million positions, concentrated mainly in high-income countries. Young people with higher education prove more exposed to displacement risk than their peers with lower levels of education, reversing the traditional link between education and job security.
The gender gap
More than two-thirds of the 257 million NEET youth are women. The global female NEET rate stands at 27.4%, more than double the male rate of 13.1%. In the Arab States, female youth unemployment exceeds male unemployment by 80%. Unpaid care responsibilities and structural barriers continue to exclude millions of young women from the labour market.
The ILO's position
The organization's Director-General, Gilbert F. Houngbo, stated that resilient economic growth and stable overall unemployment rates must not obscure the persistence of poverty, informality and exclusion among hundreds of millions of workers. The report's findings place youth employment at the center of upcoming international economic policy agendas, while the expansion of automation introduces an additional variable set to shape employment trajectories in the years ahead.
