Youth unemployment by country
Every economy Bullrun holds a reading for: 45 in all, ranked highest first. Romania is the highest at 30.8% and Japan the lowest at 3.4%; the median is 14.5%. Each row carries its own period and source, because these providers publish on different calendars - two rows in this table can be more than a year apart.
- Economies covered45
- Highest30.8% Romania
- Lowest3.4% Japan
- Median14.5%
Youth unemployment by country, ranked
| # | Economy | Youth unemployment | Band | Period | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Romania | 30.8% | Very high | 2026-06 | EUROSTAT |
| 2 | Bosnia and Herz. | 30.7% | Very high | 2026-06 | EUROSTAT |
| 3 | North Macedonia | 27.0% | Very high | 2026-06 | EUROSTAT |
| 4 | Estonia | 26.1% | Very high | 2026-07 | OECD |
| 5 | Finland | 23.4% | High | 2026-07 | OECD |
| 6 | Chile | 23.1% | High | 2026-06 | OECD |
| 7 | Sweden | 23.0% | High | 2026-08 | EUROSTAT |
| 8 | Spain | 22.9% | High | 2026-07 | OECD |
| 9 | France | 20.7% | High | 2026-07 | OECD |
| 10 | Luxembourg | 20.1% | High | 2026-07 | OECD |
| 11 | Portugal | 20.1% | High | 2026-07 | OECD |
| 12 | Italy | 18.9% | High | 2026-07 | OECD |
| 13 | Belgium | 18.9% | High | 2026-06 | OECD |
| 14 | Slovakia | 18.0% | High | 2026-07 | OECD |
| 15 | Greece | 16.8% | High | 2026-07 | OECD |
| 16 | Croatia | 16.4% | High | 2026-06 | EUROSTAT |
| 17 | United Kingdom | 16.2% | High | 2026-05 | OECD |
| 18 | Colombia | 15.9% | Moderate | 2026-07 | OECD |
| 19 | Latvia | 15.4% | Moderate | 2026-07 | OECD |
| 20 | Hungary | 15.2% | Moderate | 2026-07 | OECD |
| 21 | Euro Area | 14.9% | Moderate | 2026-07 | OECD |
| 22 | Costa Rica | 14.8% | Moderate | 2026-06 | OECD |
| 23 | Turkey | 14.5% | Moderate | 2026-07 | OECD |
| 24 | Slovenia | 14.2% | Moderate | 2026-06 | OECD |
| 25 | Bulgaria | 14.1% | Moderate | 2026-07 | EUROSTAT |
| 26 | Canada | 12.9% | Moderate | 2026-08 | OECD |
| 27 | Ireland | 12.3% | Moderate | 2026-08 | EUROSTAT |
| 28 | Austria | 12.2% | Moderate | 2026-07 | OECD |
| 29 | Czechia | 12.2% | Moderate | 2026-07 | OECD |
| 30 | Lithuania | 12.1% | Moderate | 2026-07 | OECD |
| 31 | Norway | 12.1% | Moderate | 2026-07 | OECD |
| 32 | Cyprus | 11.9% | Moderate | 2026-06 | EUROSTAT |
| 33 | Poland | 11.2% | Moderate | 2026-07 | OECD |
| 34 | Iceland | 11.2% | Moderate | 2026-07 | OECD |
| 35 | Denmark | 10.8% | Moderate | 2026-07 | OECD |
| 36 | Australia | 10.4% | Moderate | 2026-07 | OECD |
| 37 | Malta | 9.8% | Low | 2026-07 | EUROSTAT |
| 38 | United States | 9.1% | Low | 2026-08 | OECD |
| 39 | Switzerland | 9.0% | Low | 2026-06 | EUROSTAT |
| 40 | Netherlands | 8.8% | Low | 2026-08 | EUROSTAT |
| 41 | Germany | 7.2% | Low | 2026-07 | OECD |
| 42 | South Korea | 6.5% | Low | 2026-08 | OECD |
| 43 | Mexico | 6.2% | Low | 2026-07 | OECD |
| 44 | Israel | 5.9% | Low | 2026-07 | OECD |
| 45 | Japan | 3.4% | Low | 2026-07 | OECD |
How the scale reads
| Band | What it means | Economies |
|---|---|---|
| < 10% | Low | 9 |
| 10 to 16% | Moderate | 19 |
| 16 to 25% | High | 13 |
| 25 to 40% | Very high | 4 |
| 40%+ | Severe | 0 |
These are the same bands that shade the map on the Global Markets dashboard, so a country's colour there and its band here always agree.
What this measures
Unemployment among 15-24 year olds - the spread a headline rate hides, since an economy can sit near 6% overall and 25% for its young people. Monthly OECD and Eurostat data only: there is no annual floor for this cut, so it covers 45 economies rather than filling the gaps from a proxy. The bands are scaled to youth rates, which run roughly double the headline everywhere, so reading them against the headline scale would paint almost every economy red and say nothing.
Source: OECD and Eurostat monthly series, seasonally adjusted. Coverage differs from metric to metric because these providers cover different sets of economies, and a gap is left as a gap rather than filled from a proxy - an absent economy is one we hold no reading for, never a zero. See the data license.
Other metrics by country
Global markets dashboard · Every economy scored · Screen stocks by country