ES EN

Netherlands: Unemployment rate

An editorial snapshot of country living conditions with trend, regional spread, and context links.

Netherlands

Latest value

· 2025

3.90% of labour force

EU 6.25 · -2.4 pp vs Europe

European ranking

28 / 34

No change compared with previous year

Recent trend

Open trend

Population

18.0M

Country population · 2025

What this indicator measures

Measures unemployed people as a percentage of the labour force aged 15 to 74.

Lower values generally represent a more favorable situation.

Explore this indicator

Regional map

· 2025 · 12 regions

Open map
Loading map preview...

Internal regions

Comparison of values across the country's regions for this indicator.

  1. 1

    Zuid-Holland Centraal

    +23.08

    4.80

  2. 2

    Groningen

    +15.38

    4.50

  3. 3

    Friesland (NL)

    +2.56

    4.00

  4. 4

    Noord-Holland

    -2.56

    3.80

  5. 4

    Zuid-Holland Zuid

    -2.56

    3.80

  6. 6

    Overijssel

    -5.13

    3.70

  7. 6

    Flevoland

    -5.13

    3.70

  8. 8

    Drenthe

    -7.69

    3.60

  9. 9

    Noord-Brabant

    -10.26

    3.50

  10. 10

    Gelderland

    -12.82

    3.40

  11. 11

    Limburg (NL)

    -23.08

    3.00

  12. 12

    Zeeland

    -43.59

    2.20

More context on this indicator

At a glance

Netherlands performs more favourably than the European benchmark on Unemployment rate, with a moderate gap. The trend context points to recent stabilization. The wider topic context is mixed, combining pressure signals and relative strengths. Regional evidence also shows internal variation.

European comparison in Netherlands

In Netherlands, Unemployment rate is noticeably better than the European benchmark: 3.9% versus 6.3% in 2025, with a gap of 2.4 percentage points.

Recent trend

In the Netherlands, the medium-term pattern is broadly stable: the value moved from 4.90% in 2020 to 3.90% in 2025. The latest value also changes little from 3.70% in 2024, so the recent reading remains stable.

Regional differences in Netherlands

In Netherlands, Unemployment rate shows noticeable regional variation. Across 12 comparable regions, Zuid-Holland Centraal records the highest value (4.8%) and Zeeland the lowest (2.2%), a gap of 2.6 percentage points.

Reading within the topic

In Netherlands, Employment & Economic Security shows a mixed picture: pressure signals and relative strengths coexist across this indicator and its related indicators compared with Europe. No material recent change is detected among related indicators.