The Ghana Statistical Service(GSS) has declared that, in the third quarter of 2023, nearly 1.9 million young people in Ghana, aged 15 to 35, were not engaged in education, employment, or training (NEET).
According to the 2023 Annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey (AHIES) released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), there is a significant gender disparity, with 1.2 million females outnumbering 715,691 males in the NEET category.
The Greater Accra Region recorded the highest number of youth NEET, with over half a million (565,360) individuals. Other regions with notable youth NEET figures include Ashanti (352,503), Central (155,171), Eastern (143,601), and Western (137,865).
The NEET rate for females stands at 21.0%, six percentage points higher than the 15.0% rate for males. Greater Accra had the highest regional NEET rate, with 26.9% of its youth population not engaged in any productive activity. The North East Region followed with a 19.5% NEET rate. All regions, except Bono East (8.3%), reported NEET rates in double figures. Urban areas had a higher NEET rate (20.6%) compared to rural areas (15.0%).
Comparing Q3 2023 to the same period in 2022, the overall NEET rate dropped by 5.9 percentage points, from 24.1% to 18.2%. The total number of youth NEET decreased by nearly half a million (462,998). However, the Greater Accra Region had a slight increase in its NEET rate by 0.5 percentage points, the only region to experience such an increase. All other regions reported declines in youth NEET rates, with the Western Region showing a divergent trend: a 5.9 percentage point decrease for males but a 0.3 percentage point increase for females.
