India's share of youth not in education, employment or training, total (% of youth population) was 25.55% in 2025, the latest year in the World Bank's World Development Indicators. That is down 5.15 percentage points from 30.7% in 2020.
Key figures
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Latest | 25.55% | 2025 |
| Five years earlier | 30.7% | 2020 |
| Highest | 32.71% | 2000 |
| Lowest | 23.49% | 2023 |
| Average since 2018 | 27.46% | 2018–2025 |
| First recorded | 32.65% | 1994 |
Over five years it is down 5.15 percentage points from 30.7% in 2020. Since 1994 it is down 7.09 percentage points from 32.65% in 1994. The World Bank has no value for 18 of the years in between; the chart leaves those gaps open rather than joining across them.
What the numbers say
On record, the biggest yearly rise was 3.73 percentage points in 2005 and the biggest yearly fall was 2.7 percentage points in 2021. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.
From 2018 to 2025 the straight-line trend is downward, about 1.14 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 79% of the movement over 8 observed years.
Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.
How it compares
In 2025, India had the 4th highest value of the 69 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| India | 25.55% | 2025 |
| South Asia | 25.55% | 2025 |
| Lower middle income | 21.8% | 2024 |
Closest to India in the 2025 ranking
- Honduras — 1st of 69: 29.03%
- Pakistan — 2nd of 69: 28.52%
- West Bank and Gaza — 3rd of 69: 25.78%
- St. Lucia — 5th of 69: 25.5%
- Angola — 6th of 69: 24.9%
- Dominican Republic — 7th of 69: 24.69%
What this measures
The share of youth not in education, employment or training (also known as “the NEET rate”) conveys the number of young persons not in education, employment or training as a percentage of the total youth population. Youth not in education are those who were neither enrolled in school nor in a formal training program (e.g. vocational training). For the purposes of this indicator, youth is defined as all persons between the ages of 15 and 24 (inclusive).
Limitations: When differing from international standards, the operational criteria used to define employment and the participation in education or training will naturally affect the comparability of the resulting statistics, as will the coverage of the source of statistics (geographical coverage, population coverage, age coverage, etc.). NEET rates are calculated preferably for youth defined as persons aged 15 to 24, but when studying these rates it is important to keep in mind that not all persons complete their education by the age of 24.
Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.
All 14 values
| Year | Share of youth not in education, employment or training, total (% of youth population) |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 25.55 |
| 2024 | 24.19 |
| 2023 | 23.49 |
| 2022 | 25.76 |
| 2021 | 28.01 |
| 2020 | 30.7 |
| 2019 | 31.2 |
| 2018 | 30.81 |
| 2017 | no data |
| 2016 | no data |
Share of youth not in education, employment or training, total (% of youth population) in nearby economies
- Bangladesh — 15.43% (2024)
- Sri Lanka — 17.23% (2024)
More social protection & labor data for India
- Net migration — -495,753 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of asylum — 238,643 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of origin — 42,610 (2025)
- Labor force participation rate for ages 15-24, female (%) (modeled ILO estimate) — 15.86% (2025)
- Labor force participation rate for ages 15-24, male (%) (modeled ILO estimate) — 45.15% (2025)
- Labor force participation rate for ages 15-24, total (%) (modeled ILO estimate) — 31.2% (2025)
- Labor force participation rate, female (% of female population ages 15-64) (modeled ILO estimate) — 34.88% (2025)
- Labor force participation rate, male (% of male population ages 15-64) (modeled ILO estimate)
Reading data like this
Questions people ask
- What is India's share of youth not in education, employment or training, total (% of youth population)?
- 25.55% in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).
- How has it changed since 1994?
- It is down 7.09 percentage points from 32.65% in 1994. The highest value was 32.71% in 2000 and the lowest 23.49% in 2023.
- How does India rank?
- 4th highest of 69 economies with data for 2025.
- Where does this data come from?
- The World Bank's World Development Indicators, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Labour Force Statistics database (LFS), International Labour Organization (ILO), uri: https://ilostat.ilo.org/data/bulk/, publisher: ILOSTAT, type: external database, date accessed: September 28, 2026.
Source
World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SL.UEM.NEET.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Labour Force Statistics database (LFS), International Labour Organization (ILO), uri: https://ilostat.ilo.org/data/bulk/, publisher: ILOSTAT, type: external database, date accessed: September 28, 2026 Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.
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