Bulgaria was among the EU member states with the highest unemployment rate in February, according to data released by Eurostat.
A total of 12.4% of Bulgarians were unemployed in February, which is higher than both the seasonally adjusted average for the EU 27 (10.2%) and for the Eurozone (10.8%).
Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (4.2%), the Netherlands (4.9%), Luxembourg (5.2%) and Germany (5.7%), and the highest in Spain (23.6%) and Greece (21.0% in December 2011).
Bulgaria's northern neighbor, Romania, had a 7.1% unemployment rate in February.
Eurostat estimates that 24.550 million men and women in the EU27, of whom 17.134 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in February 2012. Compared with January 2012, the number of persons unemployed increased by 167 000 in the EU27 and by 162 000 in the euro area. Compared with February 2011, unemployment rose by 1.874 million in the EU27 and by 1.476 million in the euro area.