These figures are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (3.7%), the Netherlands (4.3%) and Luxembourg (4.6%), and the highest in Spain (21.2%), Latvia (16.2% in the first quarter of 2011) and Lithuania (15.6% in the second quarter of 2011).
Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate fell in sixteen Member States and increased in eleven. The largest falls were observed in Estonia (17.9% to 12.8% between the second quarters of 2010 and 2011), Latvia (19.9% to 16.2% between the first quarters of 2010 and 2011) and Lithuania (18.2% to 15.6% between the second quarters of 2010 and 2011). The highest increases were registered in Greece (11.0% to 15.0% between the first quarters of 2010 and 2011), Bulgaria (10.0% to 11.5%) and Slovenia (7.2% to 8.4%).
Between July 2010 and July 2011, the unemployment rate for males fell from 10.0% to 9.6% in the euro area and from 9.6% to 9.3% in the EU27. The female unemployment rate remained unchanged at 10.4% in the euro area and at 9.7% in the EU27.
In July 2011, 5.115 million young persons (under-25s) were unemployed in the EU27, of which 3.143 million in the euro area. Compared with July 2010, youth unemployment decreased by 173 000 in the EU27 and by 111 000 in the euro area. In July 2011, the youth unemployment rate was 20.7% in the EU27 and 20.5% in the euro area. In July 2010 it was 20.9% in both zones. The lowest rates were observed in the Netherlands (7.5%), Austria (7.8%) and Germany (9.5%), and the highest in Spain (46.2%), Greece (38.5% in the first quarter of 2011), Lithuania (33.1% in the second quarter of 2011) and Slovakia (32.9%).
In July 2011, the unemployment rate was 9.1% in the USA. In June 2011, it was 4.6% in Japan.
