Thousands of young people remain outside work and education despite political targets

Despite a 2017 political target to reduce the number of young people outside work and education, nearly 5,000 more remain in that position than planned, according to an analysis by the Danish Labour Movement’s Economic Council (AE) based on official registry data.

Last year, 43,400 people aged 15 to 24 had completed only compulsory schooling and were neither in employment nor education, the AE found. While this represents a slight decrease from 2024, when the figure was nearly 45,000, it still falls short of the government’s 2025 milestone of a 20 percent reduction.

The original 2017 target set by the former VLAK government aimed to halve the share of young people outside education or work by 2030. The interim goal for 2025 was a 20 percent reduction, which has not been met.

The AE highlighted that 17- and 18-year-olds are particularly contributing to the shortfall. “It is positive that primary school is set to receive significant investment in the new government programme,” said Troels Lund Jensen, chief analyst at AE. “There is a need to strengthen the general education component so that schools have more capacity to support the weakest students.”