Bulgaria Retains EU’s Lowest Unemployment Rate for Sixth Straight Month

Jerusalem, 2 July, 2026 (TPS-IL) -- Luxembourg (BTA) – Bulgaria remained the European Union’s country with the lowest unemployment rate for a sixth consecutive month in May 2026, despite a slight increase of 0.1 percentage points from April to 2.9%, Eurostat said on Thursday. The number of unemployed people in Bulgaria rose to approximately 88,000 in May from 86,000 in April. In May 2025, around 105,000 people were unemployed, corresponding to an unemployment rate of 3.5%.

Among EU Member States, the lowest unemployment rates in May were recorded in Bulgaria (2.9%), Czechia (2.9%), Cyprus (3.1%) and Poland (3.1%). The highest rates were registered in Finland (10.8%), Spain (10.3%), Sweden (8.8%) and France (8.2%).

Youth unemployment in Bulgaria increased to 11.5% in May from 11.1% in April, corresponding to 14,000 unemployed people under the age of 25. In the same month 2025, the youth unemployment rate stood at 14%, equivalent to 17,000 unemployed young people.

Across the EU, 2.918 million people under the age of 25 were unemployed in May 2026, including 2.313 million in the euro area. The youth unemployment rate stood at 15.2% in the EU, up by 0.1 percentage points from April, while it remained unchanged at 14.7% in the euro area.

Compared with April 2026, the number of unemployed young people increased by 18,000 across the EU and decreased by 12,000 in the euro area.

Under Eurostat’s methodology, the unemployment rate is calculated as the share of unemployed persons aged 15 to 74 in the labour force. Unemployed persons are those without work who are available to start a job within the next two weeks and have actively sought employment during the previous four weeks.