Sweden's Youth Unemployment Is Higher Than Greece's
Silver Data Lab Research Desk · Statistical analysis · Published on 14 June 2026
- Data source
- Eurostat
- Reference period
- 2025
- Last updated
- 06 September 2026
Key estimates
- 15.2% of the EU labour force aged 15 to 24 was unemployed in 2025.
- Romania records 26.1%, Spain 24.9% and Sweden 24.3%.
- Germany records 7.1%, the Netherlands 8.8% and Malta 9.6%.
- Sweden's third place is a denominator effect: its NEET rate, measured against the whole population, is the second lowest in the Union at 5.9%.
- The two measures also use different age bands: unemployment 15 to 24, NEET 15 to 29.
The most misread statistic in European labour data
Youth unemployment is quoted more often than almost any other European figure and understood less often than most. Across the EU it stood at 15.2% in 2025.
The number that follows is not what most readers assume it to be. It does not mean that 15.2% of young Europeans are unemployed. It means that 15.2% of young Europeans who are in the labour force are unemployed — and most young Europeans are not in the labour force, because they are studying.
The Swedish case
Sweden records 24.3%, the third-highest youth unemployment rate in the European Union, above Greece at 19.1% and Italy at 20.6%.
Sweden also records a NEET rate of 5.9%, the second lowest in the Union, on a measure that counts young people not working and not studying as a share of the whole population.
Both figures are correct. The reconciliation is the denominator. In Sweden the overwhelming majority of 15 to 24 year olds are in education, so the labour force in that age band is small and consists largely of students seeking part-time work. A student looking for a Saturday job and not finding one is unemployed by the international definition, and in a small denominator a modest number of such students produces a large percentage.
Romania at the top is a different situation: a high unemployment rate alongside the Union's highest NEET rate at 19.2%. There the two measures agree, and the problem they describe is real.
Where the two measures agree and where they do not
Germany at 7.1% has a NEET rate of 9.5%. It is one of only two Member States whose NEET rate is the higher of the two figures; Bulgaria, at 13.1% against 13.8%, is the other.
Sweden is the clearest divergence in the Union on either way of putting it: 18.4 percentage points separate its two rates, and one is more than four times the other. Spain comes next on the difference, at 24.9% unemployment against 11.5% NEET, and Luxembourg next on the multiple, at 21.6% against 8.8%.
Reading the two together is not optional for this indicator. A youth unemployment rate quoted alone, without the share of young people actually in the labour force, does not support the conclusions usually drawn from it.
Youth unemployment rate, aged 15-24, 2025
| Country | % of the labour force aged 15-24 | Gap to EU averagepercentage points, derived |
|---|---|---|
| Romania | 26.1 | +10.9 |
| Spain | 24.9 | +9.7 |
| Sweden | 24.3 | +9.1 |
| European Unionaggregate | 15.2 | — |
| Malta | 9.6 | −5.6 |
| Netherlands | 8.8 | −6.4 |
| Germany | 7.1 | −8.1 |
What these figures cannot tell you
- The denominator is the labour force, not the population
- Students are excluded from the denominator unless they are also working or seeking work. In countries where most young people study, the rate describes a small and unrepresentative group.
- A 15 to 24 age band
- The band includes people still at school. Countries where education continues to 18 or 19 have very few labour force participants at the young end, which makes their rates volatile.
- Part-time job seeking counts
- A student seeking a few hours of weekend work and an adult seeking full-time employment are both counted as unemployed, without distinction of intensity.
- The NEET comparison shifts the age band as well as the denominator
- Unemployment here is measured on 15 to 24 year olds; the NEET rate quoted beside it is published on 15 to 29 year olds. The wider band takes in an age group that is mostly out of education and in work, which lowers the NEET rate on its own. Part of every gap in this study is that difference and not the denominator.
Frequently asked questions
- What is youth unemployment in the EU?
- 15.2% of the labour force aged 15 to 24 in 2025. It does not mean 15.2% of young Europeans are unemployed, because most young Europeans are students and are outside the labour force.
- Which EU country has the highest youth unemployment?
- Romania, at 26.1% in 2025, followed by Spain at 24.9% and Sweden at 24.3%.
- Why is Swedish youth unemployment so high?
- Because the denominator is small. Most Swedes aged 15 to 24 are in education and outside the labour force, so the rate is dominated by students seeking part-time work. Sweden's NEET rate, measured against the whole population, is the second lowest in the Union at 5.9%.
- Which measure should be used for young people?
- For how many young people are disengaged, the NEET rate, because its denominator is the whole population. Youth unemployment is informative about the labour market young jobseekers face, provided the size of that group is quoted alongside it.
Methodological note
The youth unemployment rate is published by Eurostat as unemployed people aged 15 to 24 as a percentage of the labour force in that age band, following the international definition of unemployment: without work, available to start within two weeks, and actively seeking.
Values are for 2025 and cover all 27 Member States.
The NEET comparisons draw on the companion study in this category, which differs in two ways at once: it uses the whole population as its denominator rather than the labour force, and it is published on the 15 to 29 age band rather than 15 to 24. The two are presented side by side and never combined.
The differences and ratios between the two rates are derived by Silver Data Lab by subtracting and dividing the published values. Eurostat does not publish them.
Source data
The underlying series can be inspected and re-downloaded from the Eurostat data browser. The filters below are the ones applied.
Unemployment by sex and age — annual data
une_rt_a
- Filters applied:
- freq=A · age=Y15-24 · sex=T · unit=PC_ACT · time=2025
- Extracted:
- 2026-08-11
- Source last updated:
- 2026-06-11
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