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NEET Youth Data: Telangana and Bihar have emerged among the states with multiple districts reporting high proportions of young people who are neither employed nor pursuing education or training, according to an analysis of the National Statistical Office's (NSO) latest district-level labour market estimates.
The data covers people aged 15 to 29 years and comes from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2025. NEET in this context stands for “Not in Employment, Education or Training” and is different from the NEET-UG medical entrance examination.
Bihar Districts Record High NEET Rates
Pashchim Champaran recorded a NEET rate of 43.6%, making it one of the districts with the highest rates in the country. Other Bihar districts also reported elevated figures. Saran recorded a rate of 40%, followed by Purba Champaran at 38.1% and Madhubani at 36.7%.
Even Patna, which recorded the lowest rate among the 10 Bihar districts highlighted in the report, had a NEET rate of 30.5%. At the state level, Bihar's NEET rate stood at 32.1%.
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Telangana Also Reports Wide District-Level Differences
Telangana showed a similar pattern despite having a substantially lower state-level NEET rate than Bihar.
Bhadradri Kothagudem recorded a NEET rate of 42.7%, followed by Khammam at 38.2%, Nizamabad at 31.6% and Vikarabad at 30.3%.
Telangana's overall NEET rate was 26.2%, while Kamareddy recorded a much lower rate of 18.4%. The figures highlight the differences that can exist between districts within the same state.
Other States Also Show High NEET Rates
High district-level NEET rates were reported in several other states.
In Odisha, Baleshwar recorded a rate of 41%, while Jajapur stood at 37.5%. In Himachal Pradesh, Solan reported 39%, despite the state's overall rate being 20.5%.
West Bengal's Paschim Medinipur recorded 38.2%, followed by Hooghly at 36.8% and Nadia at 36%. In Punjab, Gurdaspur recorded 36.4% and Amritsar 33.9%, while Haryana's Sirsa reported 36.3%.
North Delhi Records Highest Rate in Snapshot
Among the districts presented in the state-wise snapshot, North Delhi recorded a NEET rate of 44.3%, the highest figure highlighted in the analysis. The report notes that North Delhi is a major coaching hub for civil services and other competitive examinations.
What Does the District-Level NEET Data Show?
The NSO's first district-level labour market estimates provide a more detailed picture of young people outside employment, education or training.
According to the broader district-level data, 23.7% of districts recorded NEET rates above 30%, while 45.9% had rates between 20% and 30%.
However, the data itself does not establish why young people are outside employment, education or training. The NSO has also cautioned that the new district-level estimates should not be directly compared with earlier NSS-region-based figures because the PLFS sampling design was revised in 2025.
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