Declining Interest in Education and Jobs Amongst Educated Youth in India A Quantitative and Humanised Inquiry into the Great Indian Aspiration Paradox

Author(s)	Mr. Abhinav Biswal
Country	India
Abstract	India stands at a curious social crossroads. It has more college-going young people than at any point in its history, yet a growing number of them are quietly withdrawing from the classroom, from the job hunt, and in the saddest cases, from hope itself. This report combines national labour and education statistics with humanised field narratives to examine why interest in formal education and formal employment is declining among precisely the cohort that was meant to be India's demographic dividend: its educated youth. Drawing on the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2025, the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2023-24; NITI Aayog's internationalisation report; and peer-reviewed mental-health studies, the report shows that graduate unemployment (11.2%) runs more than three times the national average (3.1%), that nearly a quarter of India's youth are Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET), and that over 13 lakh students now leave the country every year in search of what the domestic system increasingly fails to promise them. Behind each percentage point sits a young person renegotiating their relationship with ambition itself. The report closes with sociologically grounded recommendations for policy, pedagogy, and public conversation
Field	Sociology > Economics
Published In	Volume 7, Issue 4, July-August 2026
Published On	2026-08-31

About AIJFR Fees & Payment Current Issue Publication Archive	Submit Research Paper Track Submission Status Publication Guidelines Publication Ethics Peer Review & Plagiarism	Join as a Reviewer Editors & Reviewers Reviewer Referral Program Get Reviewer Membership Certi.	Website/Journal Policies Usage Policy Content Policies Privacy Policy

Contact Us		+91-9898-79-39-59	editor@aijfr.com

Advanced International Journal for Research