Youth opportunity index
Our Youth Opportunity Index gives a detailed portrait of the opportunities and challenges for every young person broken down by local education authority. It has revealed the intra-regional differences in England as well as regional ones.
Beneath the headline facts lie six million individual stories about young people. Opportunities and outcomes vary significantly by demographic group and geographical area.
We have analysed data across each of England’s 150 local authorities and those in Wales to quantify and better understand these inequalities. We have shown this through a Youth Opportunity Index for both nations.
This brings together data on achievement at age 16 (Key Stage 4), attainment of Level 3 by age 19, access to higher education, take up of apprenticeships, employment rates, a measure of the quality of work (net underemployment), and the number of 16-17-year olds not in education, employment or training.
It shows a fascinating picture and allows us to dig down below the surface to understand where the opportunity gaps are largest and what is driving them. They are the result of socioeconomic factors, economic circumstance and national policy, as well as local services.
Explore the data for England via an interactive map, by local education authority table, or regional table. The results can be filtered by specific region or specific subject.
Interactive map of Youth Opportunity Index
The Index gives a relative measure of education and employment opportunities for young people across England’s 150 local education authorities. The score for each area reflects how its performance compares with the best-performing area in the country; the higher the score, the better the performance. Results are presented as a heatmap, with darker shades representing higher scores.
- Overall Index. The average score across all indices. It gives an overall comparative measure of the education and employment opportunities for young people living in each local area.
- Attainment 8 index. Attainment of GCSE-level qualifications by young people resident in a local area.
- Level 3 index. The proportion of young people resident in a local area qualified to Level 3 by age 19.
- Apprenticeships index. Apprenticeship starts as a proportion of 16-24s in a local area.
- Higher Education index. The proportion of 15 year olds in a local area entering higher education by age 19.
- Employment index. Employment rates for 23-28 year olds.
- Net underemployment index. This measure is the balance between the numbers of young people wanting to work more hours and the numbers wanting to work fewer hours.
- NEET index. The proportion of 16-17 year olds not in education, employment or training.
Use this interactive map to explore the Youth Opportunity Index:
Interactive map of Youth Opportunity Index
Use this table to explore the ranked performance of local areas for each index.
Youth Opportunity Index ranks by region
Use this table to explore the regional ranked performance of local areas for each index. Use the toolbar to share, download or reset the table.
Explore the Youth Opportunity Index for Wales
Our Youth Opportunity Index gives a detailed portrait of the opportunities and challenges for every young person broken down by local education authority. It has revealed the intra-regional differences in England as well as regional ones.
