Sri Lanka's share of youth not in education, employment or training, male (% of male youth population) was 11.91% in 2024, the latest year in the World Bank's World Development Indicators. That is down 8.26 percentage points from 20.17% in 2014.
Key figures
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Latest | 11.91% | 2024 |
| Five years earlier | 13.34% | 2019 |
| Ten years earlier | 20.17% | 2014 |
| Highest | 20.17% | 2014 |
| Lowest | 11.91% | 2024 |
| Average since 2015 | 15.15% | 2015–2024 |
| First recorded | 17.52% | 2010 |
What the numbers say
In 2024, Sri Lanka's share of youth not in education, employment or training, male (% of male youth population) fell 1.83 percentage points on 2023 (from 13.74% to 11.91%).
Across the 11 yearly changes before that (2011 to 2023), the average change was −0.6 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 1.71 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.7 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.
On record, the biggest yearly rise was 2 percentage points in 2020 and the biggest yearly fall was 3.72 percentage points in 2019. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.
From 2015 to 2024 the straight-line trend is downward, about 0.62 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 81% of the movement over 10 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 2024, Sri Lanka had the 13th highest value of the 17 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 | |
|---|---|---|
| Sri Lanka | 11.91% | 2024 |
| South Asia | 12.15% | 2025 |
Closest to Sri Lanka in the 2024 ranking
- Mali — 10th of 17: 13.81%
- Philippines — 11th of 17: 12.88%
- New Zealand — 12th of 17: 12.41%
- Mauritius — 14th of 17: 10.88%
- Bangladesh — 15th of 17: 10.88%
- Luxembourg — 16th of 17: 10.79%
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, male (% of male youth population) |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 11.91 |
| 2023 | 13.74 |
| 2022 | 13.54 |
| 2021 | 14.36 |
| 2020 | 15.33 |
| 2019 | 13.34 |
| 2018 | 17.05 |
| 2017 | 16.78 |
| 2016 | 18.07 |
| 2015 | 17.41 |
Share of youth not in education, employment or training, male (% of male youth population) in nearby economies
- Bangladesh — 10.88% (2024)
- India — 12.15% (2025)
More social protection & labor data for Sri Lanka
- Net migration — -30,724 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of origin — 148,369 (2025)
- Labor force participation rate, female (% of female population ages 15+) (national estimate) — 29.78% (2024)
- Ratio of female to male labor force participation rate (%) (national estimate) — 44.18% (2024)
- Labor force participation rate, male (% of male population ages 15+) (national estimate) — 67.4% (2024)
- Labor force participation rate, total (% of total population ages 15+) (national estimate) — 47.35% (2024)
- Labor force participation rate for ages 15-24, female (%) (modeled ILO estimate) — 17.55% (2025)
Reading data like this
Questions people ask
- What is Sri Lanka's share of youth not in education, employment or training, male (% of male youth population)?
- 11.91% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).
- How has it changed since 2010?
- It is down 5.62 percentage points from 17.52% in 2010. The highest value was 20.17% in 2014 and the lowest 11.91% in 2024.
- How does Sri Lanka rank?
- 13th highest of 17 economies with data for 2024.
- Is the latest change in share of youth not in education, employment or training, male (% of male youth population) unusual for Sri Lanka?
Source
World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SL.UEM.NEET.MA.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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