The lowest since 2008, and no longer the EU’s highest
In June 2026, 23.3% of people under 25 in Spain’s labour force were unemployed, the lowest rate since April 2008, when it was 22.6%. At its peak, in July 2013, it reached 56.2%. The figures are Eurostat’s monthly unemployment estimates, updated on 8 October 2026.
Spain no longer has the EU’s highest youth unemployment rate: in June, Romania (30.8%), Estonia (25.9%) and Sweden (25.7%) were higher. As recently as April 2025, Spain’s rate was the highest of the 27. The European Union as a whole rose from 15.0% to 15.7% over the year, and Germany was lowest at 7.5%.
Eurostat’s provisional estimates for July and August are lower still, at 22.8% and 22.7%. They are modelled before the survey for those months is in and can be revised, so this edition rests on June, the last month the survey has confirmed.
| Member state | June 2026 | June 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| European Union | 15.7% | 15.0% |
| Romania | 30.8% | 24.6% |
| Estonia | 25.9% | 27.0% |
| Sweden | 25.7% | 23.3% |
| Spain | 23.3% | 24.6% |
| Finland | 21.3% | 23.8% |
| France | 21.2% | 19.0% |
| Greece | 20.9% | 18.4% |
| Luxembourg | 20.1% | 18.8% |
| Portugal | 20.0% | 19.0% |
| Italy | 19.4% | 20.0% |
| Belgium | 19.1% | 15.6% |
| Slovakia | 18.5% | 15.4% |
| Croatia | 16.4% | 18.1% |
| Denmark | 15.8% | 14.8% |
| Slovenia | 14.3% | 11.1% |
| Latvia | 14.1% | 15.1% |
| Hungary | 13.5% | 13.8% |
| Bulgaria | 13.4% | 14.9% |
| Czechia | 13.2% | 10.9% |
| Cyprus | 11.9% | 14.5% |
| Ireland | 11.7% | 11.5% |
| Poland | 11.6% | 12.3% |
| Lithuania | 11.5% | 14.6% |
| Austria | 10.7% | 13.8% |
| Malta | 9.3% | 7.8% |
| Netherlands | 8.5% | 8.7% |
| Germany | 7.5% | 6.8% |
What the rate measures
The rate is the share of under-25s in the labour force who are unemployed, not the share of all young people. Most Spaniards under 25 are studying and are neither working nor looking, so they are in neither part of the fraction. 23.3% does not mean that almost one young Spaniard in four is out of work.
Unemployed means the ILO definition: without work, available and looking. It is measured by Spain’s Labour Force Survey; Eurostat combines it with registered unemployment to estimate each month, but the figure is not the count of people registered with the public employment service.
The comparison with 2008 is made on Eurostat’s monthly series, which it adjusts for breaks in the survey. The quarterly survey itself changed its definitions in 2021, so it is compared here only with the same quarter a year earlier: 24.5% in the second quarter of 2025, 23.8% in the second quarter of 2026.
- THE FRACTION: unemployed people under 25 divided by everyone under 25 in the labour force, working or looking. Young people who are studying and not looking for work are in neither part.
- THE DEFINITION: unemployed under the ILO definition, without work, available to start within two weeks and having looked for work in the past four weeks. It is not the count of people registered with the public employment service.
- THE SERIES: Eurostat’s monthly estimates, which it adjusts for breaks in the survey. July and August 2026 are provisional until the survey for those months is in.
So 23.3% does not say that almost one young person in four in Spain is out of work: it says that of the under-25s who were working or looking for work in June 2026, 23.3% had no job and were looking for one.
One fraction, one definition and one series, and a reading that forgets any of them says what the source does not.
The rate fell; the number barely moved
In June 2026, 454,000 people under 25 were unemployed in Spain, against 455,000 a year earlier. The rate fell from 24.6% to 23.3% while the number barely moved: the young labour force grew, so the same number of unemployed is a smaller share of it.
At the 2013 peak, 947,000 under-25s were unemployed; in April 2008, the last month with a rate as low as today’s, 554,000.
Every June since 2021 has been lower than the one before, from 36.9% in 2021 to 23.3% in 2026. The June rate was 24.2% in 2008, 55.6% in 2013 and 41.9% in 2020.
| June | Rate |
|---|---|
| 2008 | 24.2% |
| 2009 | 38.1% |
| 2010 | 41.8% |
| 2011 | 45.9% |
| 2012 | 53.0% |
| 2013 | 55.6% |
| 2014 | 53.1% |
| 2015 | 48.6% |
| 2016 | 45.5% |
| 2017 | 38.4% |
| 2018 | 34.1% |
| 2019 | 32.5% |
| 2020 | 41.9% |
| 2021 | 36.9% |
| 2022 | 29.6% |
| 2023 | 28.0% |
| 2024 | 26.7% |
| 2025 | 24.6% |
| 2026 | 23.3% |
What these figures do not say
They do not say why. Nothing here measures the 2022 labour reform, tourism, education or the size of the young population, and no policy is assessed.
They do not say how many young people have a job, on what contract or for what pay, and they say nothing about any region of Spain.
They do not say the fall will continue. July and August are provisional estimates, the survey for the third quarter is not yet published, and none of this is a forecast.
