Regional unemployment rates ranged from 2.1% in Zeeland to 27.1% in Réunion

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

News source: Eurostat link: publication