Estonia records the fourth-lowest rate in the EU with 4.1%, followed not far behind by Lithuania on 4.3%. Latvia's rate of 5.7% is significantly higher but still better than the EU average and markedly better than the rate in countries which have adopted the Euro as their national currency, where the combined rate is 7.3%.

Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were registered in Denmark (2.6%) and the Netherlands (2.8%), and the highest in Spain (10.7%) and Slovakia (10.5%).

Compared with a year ago, twenty-one Member States recorded a fall in their unemployment rate, five an increase and one remained stable. The largest falls were observed in Poland (9.5% to 7.3%) and Bulgaria (7.0% to 5.7%), and the highest increases in Spain (8.1% to 10.7%) and Ireland (4.5% to 5.7%).

The unemployment rate for males fell from 6.6% to 6.4% between June 2007 and June 2008 . The female unemployment rate declined from 7.8% to 7.3% in the EU.

These figures are published by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities.

In June 2008, the unemployment rate was 5.5% in the USA and 4.1% in Japan. The unemployment rate in Russia was 5,90% for 2008 accodring indexmundi.com.  Norway has the lowest unemployment among all compared countries (2,5%) which increased from 2,4% during the last year.