How many 'ninis' are there in Colombia? Dane revealed figures for young people who will neither study nor work in 2025.
According to figures from the National Statistics Institute (DANE), 2,680 (thousand) young Colombians between the ages of 15 and 28 are neither studying nor working in the country . According to the statistics, women are the most affected.
The report found that, between the first quarter of the year, from January to March 2025, this population represented 24.2% of working-age people in that range.
The number of 'ninis' in Colombia during the first quarter of 2025. Photo: DANE
"By sex, this ratio was 8.0% for men and 16.3% for women ," explains Dane.
In Colombia, 2,680 young people between the ages of 15 and 28 neither study nor work. Photo: iStock
In the technical bulletin, the entity also highlighted youth participation and employment in the country, as the employment rate grew two points compared to the previous quarter (43.9%).
The employment rate for those aged 15 to 28 was 45.9%, and the unemployment rate was 17.1% ; a decrease of 2.9 percentage points (20%) compared to 2024.
For its part, DANE indicated that the overall participation rate of young people between these ages was 55.4%, which represented an increase of 0.5 percentage points (54.9%).
The country's occupancy rate increased by two percentage points compared to 2024. Photo: iStock
The youth labor market indicators in the country's 13 main cities and their metropolitan areas were as follows:
- Overall participation rate: 57.8%, which was the same as in 2024.
- Occupancy rate: 48%, which increased by 1.4 percentage points compared to 2024 (46.7%).
- Unemployment rate: 17%, a decrease of 3.2 percentage points compared to 2024 (20.1%).
This is how the youth market performed in the country during the first quarter of 2025. Photo: DANE
Of the employed population, which represents 45.9%, in the first quarter of this year 2025, the branch of economic activity that had the highest number of employees was commerce and vehicle repair (19.5%).
Auto repair was one of the sectors with the highest employment. Photo: Bogotá City Hall
Others that also had a significant impact were
- Agriculture, livestock, hunting, forestry and fishing: 15.9%.
- Manufacturing industries: 11.2%.
- Accommodation and food services: 9.4%.
- Public administration and defense, education and human health care: 8.9%.
- Artistic activities, entertainment, recreation and other service activities: 7.9%.
- Professional, scientific, technical and administrative service activities: 7.5%.
- Transport and storage: 6.8%.
- Construction: 6%.
- Information and communications: 2.2%.
- Financial and insurance activities: 1.6%.
- Mining and quarrying: 1.6%.
- Supply of electricity, gas, water and waste management: 0.8%.
- Real estate activities: 0.8%.
Jobs in manufacturing and healthcare also contributed to youth employment. Photo: Bogotá City Hall
DANE highlighted that the economic activity that contributed "positively to the change in employment" during the first quarter of the year was agriculture, livestock, hunting, forestry, and fishing, with a total of 1.6 percentage points.
These were the economic activities that contributed most to youth employment in 2025. Photo: DANE
In the report, DANE also detailed the positions most occupied by young people during January and March of this year. According to the results, the positions that contributed most to the youth labor market were:
- Worker, private worker: 56.3%.
- Self-employed: 32.5%.
- Day laborer or laborer: 4%.
- Unpaid family worker: 3.7%.
- Domestic employee: 1.6%.
- Worker, government employee: 1.2%.
- Employer: 0.7%.
- Other: 0.1%.
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Maria Juliana Cruz Marroquin
eltiempo
