The EU’s unemployment rate edged up to 6.0% in 2025 from 5.9% in 2024.
The figures cover people aged 15 to 74 who are in the labour force — meaning those who are working or actively looking for work, Eurostat said in a release on Wednesday.
Spain recorded the highest unemployment rate among EU countries at 10.5% in 2025, followed by Finland at 9.7% and Greece at 8.9%.
The lowest rates were in Czechia at 2.8%, and in Poland and Malta at 3.1% each.
Unemployment rates higher among people with less education
People aged 25 to 74 with a low level of educational attainment had an unemployment rate of 10.5% across the EU in 2025, compared with 4.7% for those with medium educational attainment and 3.6% for those with high education, Eurostat said.
Slovakia had the highest unemployment rate among people with low education at 38.8% in 2025, followed by Sweden at 20.0% and Finland at 18.8%.
The unemployment gap between people with low and high educational attainment was 36.7 percentage points in Slovakia, 14.9 percentage points in Sweden, and 13.9 percentage points in Finland.
