Regional unemployment rates in the 25-nation European Union (EU) ranged from 2.4 percent to 32.8 percent in 2004, Eurostat said on Friday.

In the EU as a whole, unemployment was stable at 9.2 percent between 2003 and 2004, according to the statistical service of the EU.

At regional level, rates rose in 57 percent of the 254 statistical regions of the EU.

In 2004, the lowest unemployment rate was registered in Dorset & Somerset in Britain, and the highest in Reunion, France.

Between 2003 and 2004, the overall unemployment rate for women in the EU was stable at 10.1 percent. The female unemployment rate was higher than the male rate in nearly two thirds of the regions, said Eurostat.

Regional differences in the unemployment rate for young people aged 15 to 24 are also marked. Unemployment rates for young people ranged from 5.4 percent in the region of Zeeland in the Netherlands, to 56.6 percent in Reunion in France.

In more than two thirds of the 254 EU statistical regions, the unemployment rate for young people was at least twice that for total unemployment. There were only eight regions where youth unemployment was less than or equal to total unemployment, all in Germany.

Source: Xinhua