Finland boasted the highest unemployment rate in the EU in November 2025

Finland overtook Spain to report the highest unemployment rate in the European Union in November 2025, with a rate of 10.6%, new data from Eurostat has revealed.

Spain reported a 10.4% unemployment rate for the month, with other high unemployment rates reported in Sweden (9.1%), Greece (8.2%), France (7.7%) and Latvia (7.1%).

At the other end of the scale, the lowest unemployment rate in November was recorded in Malta (3.1%), closely followed by Poland (3.2%) and Czechia (3.2%).

Unemployment in the EU

The unemployment rate in the EU stood at 6.0% in November 2025, up marginally on the same period the previous year (5.8%), Eurostat noted. On a month-on-month basis, there was no change in the EU unemployment rate.

In the euro area, meanwhile, the unemployment rate stood at 6.3% in November 2025, down from 6.4% the previous month, and up from 6.2% in the same month the previous year.

According to Eurostat’s data, there were 13.225 million people unemployed in the European Union as of November 2025, with 10.937 million of these located within the euro area.

Compared with the previous month, the number of unemployed people fell by 97,000 in the European Union and by 71,000 in the euro area, while compared to the same month a year ago, unemployment rose by 416,000 in the EU, and by 253,000 in the euro area.

The youth unemployment rate (i.e. those aged under 25) reached 15.1% in the EU and 14.6% in the euro area in November 2025, with both percentages lower than the previous month.

Elsewhere, the unemployment rate for women (6.2%) was slightly higher than that of men (5.8%) at EU level in November, again with no change on the previous month.

In the euro area, the unemployment rate for women stood at 6.5%, down from 6.6% the previous month, while for men, it was 6.1%, unchanged month-on-month. Read more here.

Unemployment Rate by EU Member State, November 2025 (%)

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