Bulgaria's Unemployment Rate Drops to 3.9% in January 2025

Bulgaria's unemployment rate fell to 3.9% in January 2025, down slightly from 4.0% in December 2024, according to data from Eurostat. A year earlier, unemployment in the country stood at 4.6%. The total number of unemployed Bulgarians decreased to 119,000 in January, down from 120,000 in December and a significant drop from 141,000 in January 2024.

Youth unemployment in Bulgaria, however, saw an uptick, rising to 10.1% in January from 9.6% at the end of 2024. In the European Union, youth unemployment remained unchanged at 14.6%, while the eurozone saw a slight drop to 14.1% from 14.2% the previous month.

Across the EU, unemployment stabilized at 5.8%, continuing for the fourth consecutive month. The unemployment rate in the eurozone held steady at 6.2%, maintaining a record low that has remained unchanged for three months. This marks the lowest unemployment rate in the region since 1998, just before the introduction of the euro.

At the national level, Spain recorded the highest unemployment rate in January at 10.4%, followed by Sweden (8.9%), Greece (8.7%), and Finland (8.7%). On the other hand, the Czech Republic and Poland had the lowest unemployment rates at 2.6%, with Malta (3.0%), Slovenia (3.3%), and Germany (3.5%) also reporting low levels.

In total, 12.824 million Europeans were unemployed in January, with 10.819 million from the eurozone. Compared to the previous month, unemployment in the EU dropped by 8,000, and in the eurozone, it decreased by 42,000. Year-on-year, the number of unemployed people in the EU fell by 510,000, with a larger decline of 547,000 in the eurozone.