General News
Nearly Two Million Ghanaian Youth Are Out of School, Work or Training – GSS Raises Alarm
The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has expressed concern over rising youth unemployment and the growing number of young people who are neither in education, employment nor training (NEET), warning that urgent investment is needed to secure Ghana’s future.
According to the Service’s World Population Day 2026 press release, the Quarterly Labour Force Survey for the first three quarters of 2025 recorded an average national unemployment rate of 12.8 per cent, while unemployment among young people aged 15 to 35 stood at 21.9 percent, nearly twice the national average.
The report further identified Greater Accra (31.9%), Central (27.4%), and Ashanti (27.2%) as the regions with youth unemployment rates consistently above the national youth average.
GSS also disclosed that nearly two million young people, representing 19.5 percent of the youth population by the third quarter of 2025, were classified as Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET), meaning they were neither gaining skills through education nor participating in productive employment.
The report highlighted additional concerns over teenage pregnancy, noting that the 2022 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey found that 15 percent of girls aged 15–19 had ever been pregnant, while 11 per cent had already given birth. GSS said early pregnancy often disrupts education, limits skills development and reduces long-term economic participation, particularly among young women.
To reverse the trend, the Service called for sustained investment in technical and vocational education, entrepreneurship, stronger school-to-work transition programmes and the expansion of productive sectors capable of creating decent jobs for Ghana’s growing youth population.