These figures are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Netherlands (4.3%), Luxembourg (4.9%) and Austria (5.0%), and the highest in Spain (20.2%), Lithuania and Latvia (both 18.3% in the third quarter of 2010).
Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate fell in eight Member States, remained stable in the United Kingdom and increased in eighteen. The largest falls were observed in Malta (7.3% to 6.2%), Sweden (8.9% to 7.8%), Germany (7.4% to 6.6%) and Finland (8.8% to 8.1%). The highest increases were registered in Lithuania (14.3% to 18.3% between the third quarters of 2009 and 2010), Greece (9.7% to 12.9% between the third quarters of 2009 and 2010), Bulgaria (8.6% to 10.1%) and Slovenia (6.4% to 7.8%).
Between December 2009 and December 2010, the unemployment rate for males rose from 9.8% to 9.9% in the euro area and remained stable at 9.6% in the EU27. The female unemployment rate increased from 10.0% to 10.1% in the euro area and from 9.3% to 9.6% in the EU27.
In December 2010, the youth unemployment rate (under-25s) was 20.4% in the euro area and 21.0% in the EU27. In December 2009 it was 20.1% and 20.5% respectively. The lowest rates were observed in the Netherlands (8.2%), Germany (8.6%) and Austria (10.5%), and the highest in Spain (42.8%), Slovakia (37.3%) and Lithuania (35.3% in the third quarter of 2010).
In December 2010, the unemployment rate was 9.4% in the USA and 4.9% in Japan.
