Nicosia, Cyprus. Cyprus recorded an unemployment rate of 4.4 per cent in 2025, according to Eurostat data, placing it below the European Union average of 6 per cent. The figures showed a slight increase across the EU compared with 2024, when the unemployment rate stood at 5.9 per cent.
Cyprus below EU average
The data covered people aged 15 to 74 in the labour force. Cyprus ranked among the better-performing labour markets in the EU, compared with economies in southern and northern Europe that recorded higher unemployment rates.
Highest and lowest rates across the EU
Spain registered the highest unemployment rate in the bloc at 10.5 per cent, followed by Finland at 9.7 per cent and Greece at 8.9 per cent. The lowest rates were recorded in the Czech Republic at 2.8 per cent, while Poland and Malta both stood at 3.1 per cent.
Education and unemployment
The figures also showed significant differences in unemployment levels depending on education across the EU, with lower educational attainment linked to higher joblessness.
Among people aged 25 to 74, those with low levels of education faced an unemployment rate of 10.5 per cent, compared with 4.7 per cent for those with medium education and 3.6 per cent for those with higher education.
Widest education gaps
The widest gaps between education levels were recorded in Slovakia, Sweden and Finland, where the differences between low and highly educated groups were particularly pronounced.
In Slovakia, unemployment among those with low education reached 38.8 per cent, compared with 2.1 per cent for those with higher education, a gap of 36.7 percentage points. Sweden recorded 20.0 per cent unemployment among the least educated, against 5.1 per cent for the highly educated, while Finland reported 18.8 per cent compared with 4.9 per cent.