Almost three in ten active young people in Extremadura under 30 are unemployed, according to Eurostat. Only five territories in the European Union have a higher youth unemployment rate.
Almost three in ten active young people in Extremadura under 30 are without work, as reported by El Periódico Extremadura based on the Eurostat Regional Yearbook 2026, recently published by the European statistical office. Of more than two hundred regions in the European Union, only five report a higher youth unemployment rate than Extremadura: Ceuta, Melilla, and three French outermost regions, Mayotte, Martinique, and Guadeloupe.
If we exclude the regions that Eurostat refers to as “atypical” due to their geographical and administrative characteristics, Extremadura has the highest youth unemployment rate among the regions of the 27 member states, at 29.3%. Among young women in the region, the figure reaches 33.9%, compared to 25.4% for men.
The unemployment rate in Extremadura is 2.5 times the average of the European Union, which stands at 11.7%. Across the entire EU population aged 15 to 74, unemployment is at 6%. In all regions with data from 2025 (211 out of 244), the unemployment rate for those under 30 exceeds the general rate.
Within Spain, the national average is 18.6%. Andalusia, with 24.8%, has the worst figure after Extremadura, followed by the Valencian Community and the Canary Islands, both at 21.9%, and Castilla-La Mancha, at 20.7%. At the opposite end, the Basque Country and Cantabria report 13.8%.
While youth unemployment fell in Spain by 1.6 points during 2025, in Extremadura it rose by 1.9 points. The region's data is published in the chapter dedicated to the labour market in Eurostat's yearbook, which serves as a reference for comparing European territories.
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