Rates varied from 4.9% to 55.7% for young people.
Regional unemployment rates varied widely across the EU27 in 2007, from 2.1% in the region of Zeeland in the Netherlands, to 25.2% in Réunion, a French Overseas Department.
Of the 263 NUTS 22 regions of the EU27 for which data are available, 28 had an unemployment rate of 3.5% or less in 2007, half the average for the EU27. They included eight regions in the Netherlands, seven in Italy, five in the United Kingdom, three each in the Czech Republic and Austria and two regions in Belgium. At the other extreme, 14 regions had a rate of 14.2% or higher, double that of the EU27: five regions in Germany, four in France (all of the Overseas Departments), two each in Spain and Slovakia and one region in Belgium, Malta stood at 6.4%.
Female unemployment rate lowest in the regions of Zeeland and Praha
At regional level, the female unemployment rate was lowest in 2007 in Zeeland (2.4%) in the Netherlands, Praha (2.8%) in the Czech Republic, Cheshire (2.9%) in the United Kingdom and Utrecht (2.9%) in the Netherlands, Malta stood at 7.6%. The female unemployment rate was highest in the Spanish regions of Ceuta (28.7%) and Melilla (28.1%). The female unemployment rate was higher than the male rate in three quarters of the 254 regions for which data are available.
Unemployment rate amongst young people lowest in Dutch regions
Regional differences in the unemployment rate for young people are also very marked. In the EU27 in 2007, the lowest rates for young people were recorded in Gelderland (4.9%) and Utrecht (5.0%), both in the Netherlands, and the highest in Guadeloupe (55.7%), Réunion (50.0%) and Martinique (47.8%), all French Overseas Departments, and Sicilia (37.2%) in Italy, Malta stood at 13.8%.
In 26 regions the unemployment rate for young people in 2007 was 7.6% or less, half the average for the EU27: ten in the Netherlands, eight in Germany, three each in the Czech Republic and Austria, and one region each in Bulgaria and Slovakia. In twelve regions the rate was 30.6% or more, double that of the EU27: six in Italy, three in France, two in Belgium and one region in Greece.
There was no region where youth unemployment was lower than total unemployment, and in more than 70% of the 237 EU27 regions for which data are available, the unemployment rate for young people was at least twice that for total unemployment.
The data on regional unemployment, compiled on the basis of the EU Labour Force Survey, is taken from a report published by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities. This report contains further analysis of unemployment rates in the EU regions.