Spain boasted the highest unemployment rate of all European Union countries in March 2024, with the unemployment rate in the country standing at 11.7%.
This is down marginally on the 11.8% unemployment rate recorded in Spain in February 2024, as well as on the 12.6% rate recorded in March 2023, Eurostat’s data showed.
The only other EU country to report a double-digit unemployment rate in March 2024 was Greece, with a rate of 10.2%, while other countries to report high unemployment were Sweden (8.6%), Finland (8.4%) and Estonia (7.8%).
At the other end of the scale, the unemployment rate in both Czechia and Poland stood at 2.9% in March, with Slovenia on 3.1% and Malta and Germany both on 3.2%.
Unemployment rate across Europe
In the euro area, the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate remained stable at 6.5% in March 2024, unchanged from the previous month, and down from 6.6% in March 2023. Similarly, the EU unemployment rate stood at 6.0% in March 2024, a decrease from 6.1% in February 2024, and stable compared to March 2023.
Eurostat estimates that in March 2024, there were 13.26 million individuals without jobs in the EU, with 11.09 million in the euro area.
Among them, 2.86 million were young persons under 25, with 2.26 million in the euro area. The youth unemployment rate decreased slightly to 14.6% in the EU and 14.1% in the euro area, down from 14.7% and 14.4% respectively in February 2024.
Elsewhere, the unemployment rate for women was 6.4% in March 2024 in the EU, with no change since the previous month, while the unemployment rate for men was 5.7%, down from 5.8% the previous month.
Highest unemployment rates in European Union, March 2024
| Country | Unemployment Rate (%) |
|---|---|
| Spain | 11.7 |
| Greece | 10.2 |
| Sweden | 8.6 |
| Finland | 8.4 |
| Estonia | 7.8 |
| France | 7.3 |
| Lithuania | 7.3 |
| Italy | 7.2 |
| Denmark | 6.8 |
| Latvia | 6.8 |
| Portugal | 6.5 |
| European Union (27 countries) | 6.0 |
| Cyprus | 6.0 |
| Croatia | 5.9 |
| Luxembourg | 5.6 |
| Belgium | 5.5 |
| Slovakia | 5.4 |
| Romania | 5.3 |
| Austria | 4.9 |
| Bulgaria | 4.4 |
| Ireland | 4.3 |
| Hungary | 4.3 |
| Netherlands | 3.6 |
| Germany | 3.2 |
| Malta | 3.2 |
| Slovenia | 3.1 |
| Czechia | 2.9 |
| Poland | 2.9 |
