Eurostat’s latest survey on young people neither in employment nor in education or training (NEET) has revealed that 30.8 percent of Turkish youth between the ages 18-24 are completely idle, BBC Turkish service reported on Saturday.
The survey was conducted among 34 countries, with Turkey coming in 33rd after Macedonia, where 32 percent of young people are NEETs.
Turkey topped the list for young women between the ages 18-24 who were neither working nor studying at 43.6 percent, whereas second-placed Macedonia came in at 32.2 percent.
Only 18.2 percent of young men in Turkey are in the NEET category.
The European Union average for NEET is 14.3 percent, with 13.9 percent for young men and 14.7 percent for young women.
Italy comes first among EU countries with 25.7 percent of its young population doing nothing, while the Netherlands is last on the list with 5.3 percent of its young population idle.
Only 4.1 percent of non-EU member Iceland’s young generation is neither working nor receiving education or training.