Social Protection & Labor · Sub-Saharan Africa (IDA & IBRD)
Yearly data from 2005 to 2025, from the World Bank.
Sub-Saharan Africa (IDA & IBRD)'s share of youth not in education, employment or training, female (% of female youth population) (modeled ILO estimate) was 26.33% in 2025, the latest year in the World Bank's World Development Indicators. That is down 0.33 percentage points from 26.66% in 2015.
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Latest | 26.33% | 2025 |
| Five years earlier | 29.01% | 2020 |
| Ten years earlier | 26.66% | 2015 |
| Highest | 29.01% | 2020 |
| Lowest | 25.37% | 2011 |
| Average since 2016 | 27.56% | 2016–2025 |
| First recorded | 26.08% | 2005 |
Over five years it is down 2.68 percentage points from 29.01% in 2020. Since 2005 it is up 0.25 percentage points from 26.08% in 2005.
In 2025, Sub-Saharan Africa (IDA & IBRD)'s share of youth not in education, employment or training, female (% of female youth population) (modeled ILO estimate) rose 0.05 percentage points on 2024 (from 26.28% to 26.33%).
Across the 19 yearly changes before that (2006 to 2024), the average change was +0.01 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.56 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.1 standard deviations above 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 0.61 percentage points in 2020 and the biggest yearly fall was 1.87 percentage points in 2023. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.
From 2016 to 2025 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 22% of the movement over 10 observed years, so the value is moving around more than it is heading anywhere.
Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.
See how every economy compares in the full ranking.
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Sub-Saharan Africa (IDA & IBRD) | 26.33% | 2025 |
| World | 27.14% | 2025 |
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.
| Year | Share of youth not in education, employment or training, female (% of female youth population) (modeled ILO estimate) |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 26.33 |
| 2024 | 26.28 |
| 2023 | 26.31 |
| 2022 | 28.18 |
| 2021 | 28.51 |
| 2020 | 29.01 |
| 2019 | 28.4 |
| 2018 | 27.91 |
| 2017 | 27.5 |
| 2016 | 27.21 |
| 2015 | 26.66 |
| 2014 | 26.25 |
| 2013 | 25.7 |
| 2012 | 25.7 |
| 2011 | 25.37 |
| 2010 | 25.48 |
| 2009 | 25.52 |
| 2008 | 25.74 |
| 2007 | 25.82 |
| 2006 | 25.96 |
| 2005 | 26.08 |
Every indicator for Sub-Saharan Africa (IDA & IBRD) is on the Sub-Saharan Africa (IDA & IBRD) data page.
World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SL.UEM.NEET.FE.ME.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: ILO Modelled Estimates database (ILOEST), International Labour Organization (ILO), uri: https://ilostat.ilo.org/data/bulk/, publisher: ILOSTAT, type: external database, date accessed: January 17, 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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