A recent report by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has revealed that approximately 1.9 million youth aged 15-35 in Ghana are not engaged in education, employment, or training (NEET).
This represents about 18.2% of the youth population in the country.
According to the 2023 Annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey (AHIES), females make up the majority of youth NEET, with 1.2 million females not engaged in any of the three activities, compared to 715,691 males.
The Greater Accra Region has the highest number of youth NEET, with over half a million (565,360) young people not engaged in education, employment, or training. Four other regions – Ashanti, Central, Eastern, and Western – also recorded high numbers of youth NEET, exceeding 100,000 each.
The report also highlights that the youth NEET rate is higher in urban areas (20.6%) than in rural areas (15.0%). However, there has been a decline in the overall youth NEET rate from 24.1% in Q3 2022 to 18.2% in Q3 2023, representing a decrease of 5.9 percentage points.
The Ghana Statistical Service is commemorating World Youth Skills Day on July 15, 2024, with the theme “Youth Skills for Peace and Development”.
The service provides quarterly statistics on youth engagement and has made available the Q3 2023 Annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey (AHIES) Labour Statistics Bulletin on its website.
