Unemployment rates above EU average in Cyprus in 2022

In 2022, the unemployment rate of people aged 15-74 in Cyprus was 6.8 per cent, a little higher than the EU average (6.2 per cent), according to data released by Eurostat, the statistical service of the EU, with data recording a large variation across the EU’s NUTS 2 regions. The unemployment rate among the young was also above the EU average in Cyprus.

Cyprus is considered a single region on the NUTS 2 level for statistics purposes, due to the size of the country’s population.

The lowest unemployment rates on a regional level in the EU were recorded in Central Bohemia (1.2 per cent), Prague (1.6 per cent), South-East and South-West in Czechia as well as Central Transdanubia in Hungary (all 1.7 per cent).

At the opposite end of the scale, the highest unemployment rates were registered in the Spanish regions of Ceuta (28.4 per cent), Melilla (21.6 per cent) and Andalusia (19.0 per cent), along with the outermost region Guadeloupe in France (18.6 per cent).

Compared with 2021, the highest increases in the unemployment rate were registered in the Spanish regions of Melilla and Ceuta (both +1.8 per cent), as well as in the outermost region of Guadeloupe in France (+1.5 per cent). The highest decreases were recorded in the South Aegean region in Greece (-8.1 per cent), the Canary Islands region in Spain (-5.6 per cent) and Western Greece (-4.9 per cent).

The average unemployment rate for young people aged between 15 and 29 in Cyprus in 2022 was 14.1 per cent (-0.1 per cent compared with 2021), while standing at 11.3 per cent at the EU level (-1.7 per cent compared with 2021).

Marked regional differences were also recorded in the unemployment rates for young people. The regions with the lowest rates were Central Bohemia (1.7 per cent), South-West (3.1 per cent) and Prague (3.2 per cent) in Czechia, Upper Bavaria in Germany (3.3 per cent), closely followed by West Transdanubia in Hungary (3.6 per cent).

In contrast, the highest rates were recorded in Ceuta in Spain (42.4 per cent), the Greek region of Thessaly (39.8 per cent), Central Greece (36.5 per cent), and another region in Spain, Melilla (36.1 per cent). Campania and Sicily in Italy (both 34.2 per cent) and West Macedonia in Greece (34.3 per cent) also had high rates of unemployment among young people.