As of March 2025, South Africa had the highest unemployment rate among the 19* countries that are members of the G20. The unemployment rate in South Africa stood at **** percent that year. The country has recently been plagued by an economic downturn, including energy shortages and high unemployment levels. On the other hand, Japan had the lowest unemployment rate at just *** percent. Economic inequality in South Africa Not only does South Africa top the G20 in overall unemployment, but it also has a significant level of youth unemployment, as nearly half of the young population is unemployed. Thirty years after the end of Apartheid, South Africa is also still one of the most unequal countries in the world, with a Gini score of ****. The prominence of inequality in the country makes escaping unemployment and underemployment difficult. Japanese economic slowdown While Japan had the lowest unemployment rate out of all G20 nations, as well as the lowest youth unemployment rate out of the G20 nations, Japan’s economy is still facing many challenges. With an aging population, the total Japanese population is facing a rapid decline, meaning that it will struggle to have enough workers participating in the labor market. Despite this, Japan maintains strict immigration policies, limiting the chances for foreign workers to move to Japan. Moreover, Japan has the second lowest fertility rate out of the G7 nations and one of the lowest fertility rates globally, adding another challenge in addressing population shrinkage.

This dataset provides values for UNEMPLOYMENT RATE reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

Among European Union countries in July 2025, Spain had the highest unemployment rate at 10.4 percent, followed by Finland at 10 percent. By contrast, Malta has the lowest unemployment rate in Europe, at 2.6 percent. The overall rate of unemployment in the European Union was 5.9 percent in the same month - a historical low-point for unemployment in the EU, which had been at over 10 percent for much of the 2010s.

This dataset provides values for UNEMPLOYMENT RATE reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

The average for 2025 based on 101 countries was 6.64 percent. The highest value was in Sudan: 61.99 percent and the lowest value was in Thailand: 1 percent. The indicator is available from 1980 to 2030. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

The statistic reflects the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in member states of the European Union in November 2024. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Spain in November 2024 was 11.2 percent.The unemployment rate represents the share of the unemployed in all potential employees available to the job market. Unemployment rates in the EU The unemployment rate is an important measure of a country or region’s economic health, and despite unemployment levels in the European Union falling slightly from a peak in early 2013 , they remain high, especially in comparison to what the rates were before the worldwide recession started in 2008. This confirms the continuing stagnation in European markets, which hits young job seekers particularly hard as they struggle to compete against older, more experienced workers for a job, suffering under jobless rates twice as high as general unemployment. Some companies, such as Microsoft and Fujitsu, have created thousands of jobs in some of the countries which have particularly dire unemployment rates, creating a beacon of hope. However, some industries such as information technology, face the conundrum of a deficit of qualified workers in the local unemployed work force, and have to hire workers from abroad instead of helping decrease the local unemployment rates. This skills mismatch has no quick solution, as workers require time for retraining to fill the openings in the growing science-, technology-, or engineering-based jobs, and too few students choose degrees that would help them obtain these positions. Worldwide unemployment also remains high, with the rates being worst in the Middle East and North Africa. Estimates by the International Labour Organization predict that the problem will stabilize in coming years, but not improve until at least 2017.

In 2023, South Africa had the highest unemployment rate in the world, at 32.1 percent. Of the 10 countries with the highest unemployment rates, six were in Sub-Saharan Africa. What exactly is unemployment? The unemployment rate is the number of people in the workforce currently looking for jobs but not working. This number does not include students and retirees, as they are not looking for work, nor does it include people who have given up on finding a job (known as discouraged workers). Comparing international unemployment rates can be problematic, however, as different countries use different methodologies when classifying unemployment. For example, Niger records the third lowest unemployment rate in the world, despite often being listed as the least developed country worldwide - this is because the majority of the population engage in subsistence farming, with very little opportunity for paid employment. Causes of unemployment in less developed countries A major driver in unemployment in these countries is conflict. In particular, internally displaced persons (IDPs) want to work, but moving to another part of the country disrupts their business network and moves them into a local economy with different labor demand. Countries with low levels of economic development, as roughly indicated by a low GDP per capita, often have fewer labor market opportunities, leading to high unemployment rates.

This dataset provides values for LONG TERM UNEMPLOYMENT RATE reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

As of April 2024, the Latin American country with the highest unemployment rate among the nations shown was Colombia, with around 10 percent of its economically active population being unemployed. In contrast, Mexico ranked as the country with the lowest unemployment rate of the region.

This dataset provides values for YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT RATE reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

This dataset provides values for UNEMPLOYMENT RATE reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

Graph and download economic data for Youth Unemployment Rate for Least Developed Countries (SLUEM1524ZSLDC) from 1991 to 2024 about unemployment and rate.

The average for 2024 based on 45 countries was 5.46 percent. The highest value was in Jordan: 18 percent and the lowest value was in Qatar: 0.13 percent. The indicator is available from 1991 to 2024. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

As of 2023, Italy had the highest unemployment rate of the G7 countries, reaching 7.6 percent. Especially in Canada and the United States, the unemployment rate rose sharply in 2020 due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Japan had the lowest unemployment rate at just 2.6 percent. Slowed growth of the Japanese economy and society While Japan had the lowest unemployment rate, it also experienced a slow wage growth. Wages in Japan are known to be stagnant, with many workers going years without experiencing any wage growth in their roles. One contributing factor to its low unemployment rate is its shrinking population. As the population continues to decrease, there is less competition for work. However, this introduces other problems for Japanese society, as it also has a rapidly aging population that requires long-term care. Unemployment in Italy: The divide between Northern and Southern Italy Not only does Italy have the highest unemployment rate out of the G7, but it has the second-highest unemployment rate of Europe's largest economies. Furthermore, Italy has significant levels of youth unemployment, with the majority of youth unemployment lying within southern regions of the country. The economic divide between Northern and Southern Italy is significant, and can be attributed to differences in industralization and economic diversification. The prominence of this divide has had wider impacts on Italian politics and society.

The ranking of the countries with the lowest and highest unemployment rates demonstrates significant differences in economic stability and employment opportunities in different countries of the world.

The 'LFS main indicators' section presents a selection of the main statistics on the labour market. They encompass indicators of activity, employment and unemployment. Those indicators are based on the results of the European Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS), in few cases integrated with data sources like national accounts employment or registered unemployment. As a result of the application of adjustments, corrections and reconciliation of EU Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) data, the 'LFS main indicators' is the most complete and reliable collection of employment and unemployment data available in the sub-domain 'Employment and unemployment'.

The EU-LFS data used for 'LFS main indicators' are, where necessary, adjusted and enriched in various ways, in accordance with the specificities of an indicator. The most common adjustments cover:

• estimation of missing values, i.e. in case of missing quarters, annual results and EU aggregates are estimated using interpolations of EU Labour Force Survey data with reference to the available quarter(s).
• for all quarterly indicators seasonally adjusted data are available.
• correction of the main breaks in the LFS series.

Those adjustments may produce some differences between data published under 'LFS main indicators' and 'LFS series – detailed quarterly/annual survey results', particularly for back data. For the most recent years, the different series converge, due to the implementation of a continuous quarterly survey and the improved quality of the data.

This page focuses on the 'LFS main indicators' in general. There are special pages for indicators that are listed below:

• Monthly Unemployment: une_rt_m.

Quarterly and annual unemployment figures are derived in line with all other LFS Main Indciators, and no longer aggregated from monthly unemployment series.

• Duration of working life - annual data: lfsi_dwl_a;
• Population in jobless households - annual data: lfsi_jhh_a;
• Labour market transitions - LFS longitudinal data: lfsi_long.

The entry of the new Framework regulation on Social Statistics (IESS) in 2021 created changes in the LFS Main Indicators. Most countries expected breaks for a number of series derived from LFS microdata, therefore Eurostat and participating countries launched a joint break correction exercise to produce comparable data before and under IESS. The 'LFS main indicators' section therefore contains two type of datasets depending on the underlying regulation. The first type of datasets are historical series under the pre-IESS regulation, and include the suffix ‘_h’ for historical series at the end of the table titles. Historical series will remain accessible and are continued until 2020Q4 LFS microdata revisions of previously released EU-LFS series. Reasons for revisions are for example weight revisions due to revised weighting routines, or census revisions. The second type of datasets are new tables that are filled with data under IESS from 2021Q1 on. These tables also include the break-corrected 2009Q1-2020Q4 data that are produced in the break correction exercise. If countries send longer complete time series than starting in 2009, that data will also be used and published. Until fully back-estimated series in line with IESS are available for all countries, EU and EA aggregates were based on the data that is available at the time and was flagged with a break flag. Fully break-free EU and EA aggregates were published for the first time in February 2022. More information can be found on the EU-LFS Breaks in Time Series (Statistics Explained) webpage.

General information on the EU-LFS can be found in the ESMS page for 'Employment and unemployment (LFS)', see link in related metadata. Detailed information on the main features, the legal basis, the methodology and the data as well as on the historical development of the EU-LFS is available on the EU-LFS (Statistics Explained) webpage.

This dataset provides values for YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT RATE reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

From the second quarter of 2022, France was the country of those included in the chart with the highest unemployment rates. During the first quarter of 2024, the European country registered an unemployment rate of **** percent. In the same quarter, Japan had the lowest unemployment rates of the countries included. China does not release quarterly unemployment rate statistics anymore. Monthly unemployment data can be found here.

From the second quarter of 2022, France was the country of those included in the chart with the highest unemployment rates. During the first quarter of 2024, the European country registered an unemployment rate of **** percent. In the same quarter, Japan had the lowest unemployment rates of the countries included. China does not release quarterly unemployment rate statistics anymore. Monthly unemployment data can be found here.

Graph and download economic data for Youth Unemployment Rate for Developing Countries in Latin America and Caribbean (SLUEM1524ZSLAC) from 1991 to 2024 about Caribbean Economies, Latin America, unemployment, and rate.