Nigeria Youth Unemployment
NEET Rate by State
Proportion of Nigerian youth aged 15–24 who are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) — the truest measure of youth idleness.
National NEET Rate
14.4%
Q2 2024
Female NEET
15.9%
vs 13% male
Worst State
38.1%
Abia — 2023
Best State
4.5%
Zamfara — 2023
NEET Rate Trend — Q4 2022 to Q2 2024
Overall Female Male
Editor's Insight
What the NEET rate reveals about Nigerian youth
NEET is the honest unemployment number
The official unemployment rate excludes youth who've stopped looking for work. NEET captures them. At 14.4% nationally in Q2 2024, it means roughly 1 in 7 young Nigerians is completely outside the productive economy — no school, no job, no training. That's millions of people.
Young women are significantly worse off
Female NEET (15.9%) consistently beats male (13%) by nearly 3 percentage points. Many young women leave education early due to marriage, childbirth, or family responsibilities — and never re-enter training or employment. This is Nigeria's hidden human capital loss.
Abia and Rivers — Southern states with a problem
It's not just the North. Abia (38.1%) and Rivers (36%) have some of the highest state-level NEET rates in Nigeria. Both are oil-belt states where deindustrialisation and insecurity have hollowed out youth opportunity despite nominal wealth in the region.
The japa wave is visible in this data
The NEET rate rise from 12.1% in Q4 2022 to 15.6% in Q1 2024 coincides exactly with peak japa emigration. Many educated youth — counted as NEET while awaiting visa approvals or processing travel documents — are not idle by choice. They're queued for exit.
About this data
Data sourced from the NBS Labour Force Survey, republished via the Nigeria SDG Data Portal (SDG Indicator 8.6.1). NEET covers youth aged 15–24 not in education, employment, or training. State-level data reflects 2023 annual averages. National quarterly data updated to Q2 2024. Figures.ng republishes official NBS data for every Nigerian.