Eurostat: Calabria, Campania and Sicily with the lowest employment rates in Europe in 2025

The southern Italian regions of Calabria, Campania and Sicily have the lowest employment rates in Europe, alongside the French ultra-peripheral regions of Mayotte and Guyana.

This was revealed by Eurostat with regional labor market statistics for 2025. Many of the regions with relatively low employment rates are characterized by rural, sparsely populated areas or peripheral regions of the EU, we read in the report. This pattern is particularly evident in the southern regions of Spain and Italy, in much of Greece, in some regions of Romania and in the ultra-peripheral regions of France. These are regions typically characterized by limited job opportunities, particularly for people with intermediate and high skill levels.

In 2025, the average European employment rate stands at 76.1%, but around a quarter of all EU regions - 64 out of 244 - recorded employment rates below 74%. This group includes 11 Italian regions, concentrated almost exclusively in central and southern Italy, with the lowest rates observed in Calabria (50.3%), Campania (50.8%) and Sicily (51.4%). Also on the list are 11 French regions, including all five outermost regions; Mayotte and Guyane which recorded the lowest employment rates in the EU, with 36.9% and 50% respectively. Eleven of the 13 Greek regions are also on the list, with the exception of Kriti and Peloponnisos, along with 11 Spanish regions, many of which are peripheral, insular or predominantly rural. Then there are 7 of the 8 Romanian regions, with the exception of the capital region of Bucuresti-Ilfov

It should be noted that they recorded an employment rate lower than the EU average. the capital regions of the Région de Bruxelles-Capitale / Bruxelles Hoofdstedelijk Gewest in Belgium (63.9%), Lazio in Italy (69.3%), Vienna in Austria (71.3%) and Attiki in Greece (73.1%) as well as Luxembourg (73.9%) also recorded an employment rate lower than the EU average.

Italy is the European nation that in 2025 recorded the highest regional disparity in employment rates, presenting a coefficient of variation of 15.1%. In general, there was a north-south divide: the Autonomous Province of Bolzano recorded the highest employment rate in Italy (80%), while the southern region of Calabria recorded the lowest rate (50.3%).