Canada's youth in data
Their story will become ours.
There is no demographic that is having a harder time in Canada than our younger generation. For some reason, Canada is developing and proceeding with almost zero care for the next generations. It’s hard to explain why but it is happening, and the future we are leaving our kids isn’t one to boast about.
I want to provide you with the complete picture, including data that explains what the younger generation is going through. Where the gaps are and trends. The younger generation is defined here as those aged 15 to 29, but some data specifics use the range of 15 to 24; all will be labeled accordingly.
Youth are facing incredible economic challenges in entering the workforce, affordability, and even education, becoming a question of ability. There are many underlying issues here, including the fact that if a family's overall financial well-being isn’t good, youth are expected to work and contribute financially, which naturally comes at the cost of their own future progress, and/or parents just can’t afford to send them to secondary education.
Youth not in employment, education, or training - also known as NEET- is an indicator that is used worldwide to “assess the risk of social disconnection and exclusion among youth during their transition from education to employment.”
When young people are not in school or employed, it highlights significant issues and stress. That means they are missing out on key skill development years, earnings, career potential, and their general well-being is reduced.
During the 2020/2021 pandemic year, NEET rates rose to the highest level in 20 years - 13.2%. After recovering from the pandemic shock, the NEET rate started to increase again and reached 11.3% in 2023/2024. That is a higher rate than pre-pandemic and is climbing.
What’s more concerning is that according to the latest data, there are over 280,000 youth who are not employed or in education because of a disability. That represents an increase of over 90,000 people since the last data reading, which occurs every 5 years. Right now, I would say there are close to 400,000 young people who aren’t getting educated or participating in the labour force because of a disability. That’s an alarming number.
Men in their mid to late 20s are specifically hit harder as their labour force participation drops and they are less likely than women to go back to postsecondary education.
Youth who aren’t in school are having a hard time finding jobs, and so do students. In January 2020, right before the pandemic, the student unemployment rate was 9.7%. In April 2025, it was 15.4%, which is even higher than some months during the pandemic.
The changes in labour characteristics are dramatic. While the 15 - 24 year old student population grew by 7.1% from May 2023 to May 2024, and 2.9% from May 2024 to May 2025, almost all employment growth statistics are negative. The total employment rate over the last year dropped by 2.6%. Over half of that population growth in that age group became unemployed.
The youth who aren’t students in that age group have just as alarming stats, with unemployment growing by 10.3% over the last 12 months and 29.9% over the previous 12 months before then. The unfortunate part is that the population in that age group that isn’t going to school is growing as well.
Employment rate by young people is lower than all demographics and at a multi-year low, including much lower than the years before the pandemic.
In the last Equifax report, excluding mortgages, ages 18-25 had the 2nd highest delinquency rates and a delinquency rate increase of 20.06%, while ages 26-35 had the highest delinquency rate and a delinquency rate increase of 21.04% year over year.
Consumers under the age of 26 had the highest credit card 90+ day delinquency rates, with a 21.7% year-over-year increase. Auto loans delinquency in younger demographics saw a 30% year-over-year increase, nearly doubling the overall delinquency rate increase of 15.3%, which is troubling enough in itself.
Never mind affording a mortgage or saving for a house, our youth can barely afford to pay for $9,000 worth of debt.
Mass immigration into a weakening economy has eroded the accessibility of youth into skill development and the workforce. Intro and entry jobs became careers for people instead of a stepping stone. I’ve warned before that this will start causing societal issues.
The impact of the cost of living also has a direct impact on youth. Families in the lower quantiles have less nominal dollars to spend on kids’ education and skill development. This is part of the reason why we see youth not participating in either.
There are over 1.4 million children living in poverty across Canada and that number has grown by over 360,000 kids in just the last 2 years. Use of foodbanks makes up over 20% of kids and is higher for families with kids. Places like Nova Scotia have child poverty rates above 20%.
Families with kids are getting poorer overall, but also the geographical concentration of high child poverty growth requires a very focused approach.
When youth have less participation ability and options in society, their mental health suffers, and they turn to vices. In many parts of the country, overdoses from drugs are the leading cause of death. Suicides are in the top 3 as the leading cause of death across Canada and higher than the average in the developed world.
While men and boys by far lead in deaths from suicide, the hospitalization rates of women and especially young girls are astronomical. There is barely any talk in our society on this but these numbers are a cry for help.
The future of our society depends on positioning our kids for success. It also puts everyone else in a position of success. We need to rethink our institutions and policies because they are obviously failing.
Our youth need opportunities, support, and places to take risks and grow.
It takes a village to raise a child, and our children need that village.