Romania continues to have the highest share of young people Not in Education, Employment or Training, also known as NEETs, in the European Union, despite a decline in recent years. Moreover, the regional imbalances in Romania have increased when it comes to the share of NEETs, shows an analysis by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung published by Monitorulsocial.ro.

The share of young Romanians (15 to 29 years old) who are not in education or employed was 19.8% in 2022, down from 24% in 2013 but still way above the EU average of 12%, according to Eurostat data.

Moreover, the number hides significant gender and regional imbalances. For example, the share of women NEETs declined by only 3 percentage points, from 28% to 25%, between 2013 and 2022, while the share of young men in the same category went down from 21% to 14%.

Also, the percentage of NEETs has only declined in a few regions and has continued to rise in Romania’s poorest regions – South West and North East. Thus, the gap between the region with the highest NEETs share and the one with the lowest NEETs share has increased from 12 pp to 21 pp.

andrei@romania-insider.com

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