One fifth of Italian children do not study, work or exercise. This is the disturbing reality of our country, where the phenomenon NEET (No [engaged] in education, employment or training) remains dominant among young people aged 15 to 29. An emergency that is creeping into the corners of society and spreading among the youngest like a disease caused partly by the school dropout phenomenon, partly by the high youth unemployment rate, which fell to 23% in November 2022, while remaining one of the highest in Europe (Istat data).

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Young networks, alarming data in Italy

In Italy, young people who are not working and dropping out of studies and education in order to improve their living conditions and careers make up 19% of the total – an encouraging percentage, given that such low numbers have not been recorded since 2007 (18.8%). The number of inactive girls has also decreased compared to other years: from 35% in 2021, which in practice is more than one in 1 in 3, compared to 24% of men, to the current 20.5%, compared to 17.7% of men . Nevertheless Italy continues to be the black jersey in Europe.. The latest data from Eurostat speaks volumes, showing a serious situation in which the Italian figure for Neet young men is the highest, ahead of Romania (14.5%) and Greece (14.1%). For young women, on the other hand, Italy has the second worst record in the EU, behind only Romania (25.4%) and then Bulgaria (17.4%).

In a general classification that does not take into account gender differences, Italy is in second place after Romania (19.8%) and ahead of Greece (15.4%)., Bulgaria (15.1%) and Cyprus (14./%). In sixth place is Croatia (13.3%), followed by Spain (12.7%), Slovakia (12.3%) and France, where NEETs make up 12% of young people. The most virtuous countries are the Netherlands with 4.2% NEET of the total, Sweden with 5.7%, Malta with 7.2%, Luxembourg with 7.4%, Denmark with 9.9% and Portugal with 8.4%. Compared to the European average of 11.7%, Italy is 6.1 percentage points higher and more than double the 9% target set for 2030. There is a lot of work if we are to give a new the direction of a country that can no longer afford to lose hundreds of thousands of young people every year. Dispersion, for which sooner or later you will have to pay.