Regional unemployment rates varied widely across the EU27 in 2009, from 2.1% in the region of Zeeland in the Netherlands, to 27.1% in Réunion, a French Overseas Department. Between 2008 and 2009 unemployment rose in 90% of the 271 NUTS 22 regions of the EU27.

Of these 271 regions, 28 had an unemployment rate of 4.4% or less in 2009, half the average for the EU27. They included eleven out of twelve regions in the Netherlands, five regions in Austria, three in Italy, two each in Belgium, the Czech Republic and Germany, and one each in Bulgaria, Romania and the United Kingdom. At the other extreme, thirteen regions had a rate of 17.8% or higher, double that of the EU27: nine regions in Spain and the four French Overseas Departments. Malta stood at 7%.

Female unemployment rates varied from 2.4% in Zeeland to 33.6% in Melilla

At regional level, the female unemployment rate was lowest in 2009 in Zeeland (2.4%) and Utrecht (2.9%) in the Netherlands and Tirol (2.9%) in Austria. The rate was highest in the Spanish region of Melilla (33.6%) and the French Overseas Department of Réunion (29.0%).

In 32 regions the female unemployment rate was 4.4% or less, half the average for the EU27. They included eleven out of twelve regions in the Netherlands, five regions in Austria, four in the United Kingdom, three in Germany, two in Belgium, and one each in Bulgaria, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Italy, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia. At the other extreme, twelve regions had a rate of 17.8% or higher, double that of the EU27: eight regions in Spain and the four French Overseas Departments. Malta stood at 7.6%.

Unemployment rates for young people varied from 4.0% in Zeeland to 59.3% in Guadeloupe

Regional differences in the unemployment rate for young people are also very marked. In the EU27 in 2009, the lowest rates for young people were recorded in the Dutch regions of Zeeland (4.0%), Gelderland (5.4%), Overijssel (5.6%) and Utrecht (5.7%), and the highest in the French Overseas Departments of Guadeloupe (59.3%), Martinique (57.6%) and Réunion (49.6%).

In 35 regions the unemployment rate for young people was 9.9% or less, half the average for the EU27: fourteen regions in Germany, all twelve regions in the Netherlands, five in Austria, and one each in the Czech Republic, Italy, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. In seven regions the rate was 39.8% or more, double that of the EU27: three regions each in Spain and France and one in Italy. Malta stood at 14.4%.

There was only one region where youth unemployment was lower than total unemployment, Bremen in Germany, and in three quarters of the EU27 regions the unemployment rate for young people was at least twice that for total unemployment.

These data on regional unemployment, compiled on the basis of the EU Labour Force Survey, were published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

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