Wales has highest rate of young people not in work or study of any UK nation
56,800 young people in Wales now classed as not in education, employment or training, up 18,500 in 12 months.
(NEET)
The proportion of young people in Wales not in education, employment or training has risen by 5.5 percentage points in 12 months, while England and Scotland recorded falls.
Wales now has the highest 16 to 24 NEET rate of the UK’s four nations.
NEET stands for not in education, employment or training, a measure used to track young people who are neither in work nor in study.
The Welsh figure stood at 17.0 per cent in the year ending December 2025, up from 11.5 per cent a year earlier.
Over the same period, the rate fell in England from 13.6 per cent to 13.3 per cent, and in Scotland from 14.0 per cent to 12.1 per cent. Northern Ireland’s rate stood at 8.8 per cent, broadly unchanged from 8.7 per cent. Wales is the only UK nation where the rate rose.
The figures come from the Welsh Government’s annual statistical release published on 29 April 2026.
Within Wales, North Wales had the highest 16 to 24 NEET rate of the three Welsh economic regions over the three years to December 2025, at 15.1 per cent. The Welsh Government defines North Wales as the Isle of Anglesey, Gwynedd, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham.
Mid and South West Wales recorded a 14.5 per cent rate over the same period, and South East Wales 13.4 per cent. North Wales has held the highest regional rate for two consecutive three-year periods.
The Welsh Government release said the 17.0 per cent figure carries a 95 per cent confidence interval of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points. The true rate therefore lies between 14.7 per cent and 19.3 per cent.
The Annual Population Survey on which the figures are based has been temporarily downgraded by the Office for Statistics Regulation from accredited official statistics to official statistics. The Welsh Government release said this was due to falling sample sizes and a lack of reweighting to current population estimates.
The data on disability shows that 40.0 per cent of disabled 19 to 24 year olds in Wales were classed as NEET over the three years to December 2025. The equivalent figure for non-disabled 19 to 24 year olds was 9.3 per cent. The 40 per cent rate represents 21,400 disabled 19 to 24 year olds in Wales over the three-year period.
A separate report published by the Resolution Foundation think tank on 28 April 2026, the day before the Welsh Government data, examined NEET trends across the UK. The report, Lost in transition, found that just over half of the rise in 18 to 24 NEET rates across the UK since 2019 can be explained by a weaker labour market. The remainder, the report said, is more than fully accounted for by a rise in inactivity due to ill health and disability.
The Resolution Foundation report said the share of UK 18 to 24 year olds reporting a long-term limiting health condition rose from 14 per cent in 2019 to 21 per cent in 2025. The report’s authors recommended action across health, education and benefits, including better mental health provision in schools and colleges, increased participation in vocational education, and reform of work support requirements for young people on incapacity benefits.
The Resolution Foundation report measures the NEET rate among 18 to 24 year olds, while the Welsh Government data measures the rate among 16 to 24 year olds. The two figures are not directly comparable because of the difference in age range.
The full Welsh Government release is available at gov.wales.
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