Lowering the proportion of NEET youth is set out as a priority in the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan. The goal: to reduce the percentage of young people between the ages of 15 and 29 who are not in work, education or training to below 9% by 2030.
Who are NEET youth? The definition
A scoping review published in 2024 on conceptualising the NEET condition, carried out by Claudia Petrescu and Bogdan Voicu (Romanian Academy) and by Christin Heinz-Fischer and Jale Tosun (Heidelberg University), points out that the standard most often referenced in the literature is the one adopted by the European Union. Initially limited to youth aged 15 to 24, the classification was later expanded to encompass the ages of 15 to 29, in order to also include those experiencing a slower transition from education to employment. When the status is determined based on time, a young person is deemed to be NEET when they have spent a total of six months (one fourth of the preceding 24 months) out of work, education or training (Yates et al., 2011).
Whether a young person becomes NEET depends, first and foremost, on contextual factors: national policies that support education, employment, and young people’s engagement with the labour market; welfare regimes; regional variables; and the gap between rural and urban areas. All of these generate disparities based on place of residence. However, the literature shows that personal, educational, sociodemographic, and family factors, often in combination with one another, also have an impact.
Causes of NEET status
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Level of education: This is the most common among all of the risk factors. In fact, poor school performance, leaving school early, and repeat truancy all significantly increase the risks of being out of work and out of training. In a number of countries, including Italy and Germany, early drop-out has been linked both to becoming NEET and remaining in that situation long-term.
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Basic skills: These play an important role. In fact, a low literacy level, a lack of soft skills, and low academic achievement increase vulnerability.
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Ethnicity and migration status: These can have an impact, especially when combined with low family socio-economic status, parental unemployment or a lack of cultural resources.
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Family conditions: These play a crucial role, encompassing factors ranging from unstable relationships to neglect, from financial hardship to a lack of availability of cultural capital, all of which increase the risk of exclusion, impede continuity in education, and hinder entry into the world of work, fuelling a vicious cycle that may reinforce itself over time.
Mental health and wellbeing as risk factors
Another scoping review, Risk Factors of Being a Youth Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET), by Hamed Rahmani and Wim Groot, published in 2023 (Maastricht University), confirms that health status is a factor that can impact the likelihood of young adults becoming NEET. Mental health issues, a low level of perceived wellbeing in early adolescence, cognitive or physical disabilities or chronic conditions can impede educational continuity and make it more difficult to enter the labour force. Furthermore, research shows that long-term unemployment can have significant psychological consequences, such as increased discouragement, anxiety, depression and social exclusion, which, in turn, can further lower motivation to seek a job, entrenching patterns of precariousness that are difficult to break.
Arts and culture as measures for combating the NEET risk
Against this backdrop, arts and culture can incentivise the most vulnerable youth by offering them opportunities for self-expression, participation and personal growth, helping to mitigate isolation, disengagement, and a lack of prospects.
Recent years have seen the formation of a body of evidence that increasingly establishes the link between cultural participation and improved social, educational and employment outcomes for young adults. A recent integrative review shows that community art programs encourage the development of greater social cohesion, with benefits for trust and sense of belonging (Sonke et al., 2024). Moreover, longitudinal evidence from the United Kingdom confirms that weekly participation in organised youth activities – including ones related to arts and culture – are linked to lower truancy, improved educational outcomes and, in some cohorts, a higher probability of attaining a qualification or degree and paid employment in early adulthood (DCMS, 2024).
An evidence-based approach to creating a culture of inclusive opportunity through arts and creativity, a recent report (Child of the North, Centre for Young Lives, 2025), drew similar conclusions, showing how art and culture have a transformative power in young people's lives, improving their learning, strengthening their soft skills, combating isolation, and expanding their horizons of possibility.
These benefits are especially important for young people at risk of becoming NEET, because they have an impact on academic, psychological, and social factors that increase vulnerability and disengagement from education and employment pathways. The report underscores the need to integrate arts and culture as pillars of a more equitable and stimulating education system, one that can offer young people meaningful experiences while simultaneously combating inactivity and digital overstimulation, two factors that undermine the construction of stable interests and hinder participation in the community.
NEET youth in Italy: C.O.P.E. project outcomes and prospects going forward
In Italy, the number of NEET youth between the ages of 15 and 29 stood at 15.2% in 2024 (source: the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) “Livelli di istruzione e ritorni occupazionali” (“Levels of education and employment outcomes”) December 2025): a percentage markedly higher than the European Union average (11.2%), exceeded only by Romania (19.4%), and greater than that of Spain (12.0%), France (12.5%) or Germany (8.7%).
With respect to the jobs market, NEET youth are split into different classifications: roughly two thirds are unemployed, while 33.9% are inactive. In Southern Italy, 73.8% of NEET youth express an interest in working, which is indicative of the lack of employment opportunities in that part of the country. This is where we also find the highest percentage of young people who have been seeking employment for at least 12 months; this group accounts for 52.8% of unemployed NEET youth, compared to 26.1% in the North and 31.2% in Central Italy.
The C.O.P.E. model: social prescribing and youth engagement
Within this framework, the scope of the situation becomes clear, as does the need for programs capable of identifying and assisting those young people who often do not come into contact with local training and employment services or who do not find suitable answers there. Enter the C.O.P.E. project (Capabilities, Opportunities, Places and Engagement), funded by the European Union as part of its EaSI – Employment and Social Innovation project. This multicentric initiative, which ran from 2022 to 2024, involved an international partnership between seven organizations hailing from four European nations: Italy, Portugal, Croatia, and the United Kingdom, under the coordination of Italy's Autonomous Province of Trento.
Based on a model of social prescribing, it targeted young people between the ages of 15 and 34 who had been in NEET situations for at least one month, encompassing both young people already being assisted by social services as well as “off the radar” youth, hard to reach either because they live in isolated areas or for social or personal reasons. Italy was to have 300 participants, spread across three pilot areas, Trentino, Mestre, and Bologna, where implementation of the model called for some considerable innovation. Referral hubs were expanded to include healthcare and social services providers, employment agencies, schools, and educational organizations, and self-referral was strongly encouraged, with the option for parents to refer their minor children.
Link workers and personalised inclusion programs
At the same time, a network of link workers from different sectors – public, private, and not-for-profit – was developed. In Italy, 48 professionals from the fields of education, psychology, and rehabilitation, as well as from the social sphere, were tapped to work with young people to develop personalised programs, which usually unfolded over eight to ten encounters, and were focused on establishing concrete and realistic goals.
The actions undertaken fell under one of five main categories: job placement, training and apprenticeship programs, academic support, socialisation and re-socialisation, and promoting physical and mental health and wellbeing. The actions included in these personalised plans were carried out by mobilising community resources, including cultural and educational organisations and clubs, in order to offer participants a variety of diverse and accessible activities to meet their individual needs. Overall, the project identified and assisted 451 young people in Italy, exceeding initial expectations. Of these, 109 were either self-referred or referred by their parents, confirming that the project was seen as accessible and non-stigmatising.
Project outcomes and impact
The results of the study, conducted by the Universidade NOVA de Lisboa and the University of East London, prove the effectiveness of the approach: at the start of the project, nearly 47% of Italian participants reported a mental health condition, while at the end of their programs a statistically significant improvement in their mental wellbeing was observed (n = 150; 95% CI; p < 0.05) and a reduction in psychological distress, with more marked effects among young people with lower starting levels of wellbeing and those ages 16 to 24. Three out of four young people met with their link worker at least once a month and over 54.4% received more than one form of support.
From a financial standpoint, the impact was likewise positive, showing that each euro invested generated a return of between 4.27 and 5.36 euros.
The project continues, with a new development: in November 2025, the Council for the Autonomous Province of Trento approved C.O.P.E.+. The next phase in the evolution of the European project, its multi-professional nature is intended to foster social inclusion and wellbeing for people in vulnerable social, health, education, relationship, and employment situations, thus consolidating the social prescribing approach as an actionable tool to be used by services in the Province.
A cura di Catterina Seia (Presidente CCW – Cultural Welfare Centre), Elena Rosica ( Cultural Welfare Center (CCW), Research Area) e Paola Zanini e Brunella Manzardo (Dipartimento Educazione Castello di Rivoli)
Per approfondire:
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Catterina Seia e Elena Rosica, Link workers per un approccio personalizzato alla sanità pubblica, 28 novembre 2025;
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Catterina Seia e Elena Rosica, Prescrizione sociale: strategie integrate per la salute mentale degli adolescenti, 31 luglio 2025;
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Catterina Seia e Elena Rosica, L’epidemia della solitudine: una fragilità collettiva, 30 maggio 2025;
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Catterina Seia e Elena Rosica, Arte e salute: un legame dimostrato, 25 aprile 2025
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Catterina Seia e Marta Reichlin, Ben-essere psicologico dei giovani universitari: sfide e opportunità per un futuro inclusivo, 29 novembre 2024;
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Catterina Seia e Marta Reichlin, Le risorse della comunità per la salute di tutti, 29 maggio 2024
