OnyiobaziAquah/youth-unemployment-nigeria

# Youth Unemployment and Education Mismatch in Nigeria ### A Data-Driven Analysis (2016–2024) **Author:** Onyiobazi Ejemot Aquah **Data Source:** ILOSTAT - International Labour Organization **Tools:** Excel · Python (Pandas & Matplotlib) **Status:** Portfolio Project - Data Analytics --- ## 📌 Project Overview Nigeria is one of the youngest countries in the world, yet millions of its young people, many of them formally educated remain unemployed. This project examines youth unemployment in Nigeria between 2016 and 2024, with a specific focus on whether higher education corresponds to better employment outcomes. The central finding is striking: **educated youth consistently account for between 79% and 87% of all unemployed youth in Nigeria** across every survey year the exact opposite of what economic theory predicts. This project is grounded in **Human Capital Theory** (Schultz, 1961 & Becker, 1964), which predicts that education increases individual productivity and employability. The data tests that prediction directly in the Nigerian context and finds compelling evidence of a **structural education-employment mismatch**. --- ## Dashboard Preview > **What this chart shows:** Intermediate and Advanced educated youth, those who completed secondary school through to university degree level, account for between **78.9% and 86.9% of all unemployed youth** across every survey year. This metric never drops below 78.9%, never approaches 50%, and shows no meaningful improvement over eight years. That persistence is the definition of a structural problem. --- ## 🔍 Key Findings ### Finding 1 — Youth Unemployment Is Volatile, Not Resolved | Year | Unemployed Youth | |------|-----------------| | 2016 | 2.83 million | | 2019 | 2.58 million | | 2022 | 1.82 million | | 2023 | 1.49 million | | 2024 | 2.19 million | After years of gradual decline, youth unemployment **rebounded sharply by ~700,000 in 2024**; confirming that the problem is structurally embedded, not c …