Security and predictability during the school - job transition have been replaced by personal choices and various risks. This transition represents an unstable and unpredictable period of life for young people, so traditional approaches for understanding the vulnerable position of young people in the labor market have become less effective because they do not adequately address the problems young people face. Accordingly, the topic of this paper is the NEET population in the Republic of Croatia. The NEET population represents young people between the age of 15 to 29 who are unemployed, who are not in education or training. This population has become the focus of researchers and policy makers in the European Union during the last economic crisis, and this paper will provide some data related to the Republic of Croatia. The definition of NEET population will be presented, as well as the definitions of youth unemployment and young people who dropped out of the education system to differentiate them, followed by the classification and statistics of the NEET population. The central part of the paper will focus on research on young people at risk of entering NEET status, as well as risk factors for those at risk of entering into NEET status, and in this part, the main goal is to reach persons at risk of entering NEET status in the Republic of Croatia. Numerous studies have shown that it was precisely the youth population that was the biggest loser of negative economic trends. Failure to find employment and unemployment after graduation have been described in the literature as risk factors for a person's development. Accordingly, this paper will also present on the consequences that NEET status brings with it. At the very end, the paper presents the recommendations and conclusion.