Spain continues to have the highest unemployment rate in the EU, with a rate of 10.9% recorded in March, according to Eurostat data.
Other countries to report a high unemployment rate for the month included Finland (9.5%), Greece (9.0%), Estonia (8.7%), Sweden (8.1%) and France (7.3%).
The lowest unemployment rate in the EU, meanwhile, was reported in Czechia (2.6%) in March, with Poland (2.7%), Malta (2.8%), Slovenia (3.2%) and Germany (3.5%) also boasting a lower-than-average rate.
Across the EU, the unemployment rate stood at 5.8% in March, which was stable on a month-on-month basis and down from 6.0% in the same month a year earlier. Within the euro area, the unemployment rate stood at 6.2% in March 2025, unchanged from February and down from 6.5% in March 2024.
An estimated 12.904 million people were unemployed in the EU as of March 2025, the data showed, with unemployment rising by 74,000 in the EU and 83,000 in the euro area on a month-on-month basis. On an annual basis, both the EU and euro area reported annual declines, of 340,000 and 288,000, respectively.
The youth unemployment rate in the EU stood at 14.5%, slightly down from 14.6% in February, while in terms of gender, the EU unemployment rate for women was 6.0% and for men 5.7%. Read more here.
Unemployment Rate by EU Member State (March 2025)
| Country | Unemployment Rate (%) |
|---|---|
| Spain | 10.9 |
| Finland | 9.5 |
| Greece | 9.0 |
| Estonia | 8.7 |
| Sweden | 8.1 |
| France | 7.3 |
| Denmark | 7.1 |
| Latvia | 6.7 |
| Portugal | 6.5 |
| Lithuania | 6.4 |
| Luxembourg | 6.4 |
| Italy | 6.0 |
| Belgium | 5.9 |
| Romania | 5.5 |
| Austria | 5.4 |
| Slovakia | 5.0 |
| Cyprus | 4.8 |
| Croatia | 4.5 |
| Hungary | 4.2 |
| Ireland | 4.0 |
| Netherlands | 3.9 |
| Bulgaria | 3.8 |
| Germany | 3.5 |
| Slovenia | 3.2 |
| Malta | 2.8 |
| Poland | 2.7 |
| Czechia | 2.6 |
