In early 2026, the number of young people aged 16 to 24 in the UK who were NEET surpassed one million, for the first time since 2013. Reaching 1,012,000 between January and March, this equates to 13.5% of all young people in this age bracket. This has increased by 172,100 from 839,900 in this category from October to December 2025. 61% of NEET young people are economically inactive and 6 in 10 young people who are NEET today have never had a job, which has increased from 4 in 10 from 2025.
