Malta had the third lowest unemployment rate in the EU last month, according to figures released by Eurostat.

Unemployment stood at 5.1 per cent in September, maintaining the same level as the previous month but registering a significant drop from the 5.8 per cent in the same month last year.

Malta was surpassed only by Germany and the Czech Republic where unemployment stood at 4.5 per cent and 4.8 per cent respectively.

Unemployment in Malta stood at half the average rate across the eurozone, which according to Eurostat was 10.8 per cent in September.

Unemployment in Malta stood at half the average rate across the eurozone

The highest unemployment rates were in Greece (25 per cent in July) and Spain (21.6 per cent).

Youth unemployment, classified by Eurostat as those under-25, stood at 13.3 per cent, which meant Malta had the sixth lowest rate. Germany had the lowest youth unemployment rate at seven per cent.

The other countries with youth unemployment rates better than Malta were Denmark, Czech Republic, Austria and the Netherlands.

Eurostat said the unemployment rate in the eurozone was the lowest recorded in the euro area since January 2012. In the whole of the EU, unemployment rate was 9.3 per cent in September, down from 9.4 per cent in August. In September last year the EU registered an unemployment rate of 10.1 per cent in September 2014. This is the lowest rate recorded in the EU28 since September 2009.

Eurostat estimates that 22.6 million men and women in the EU28, of whom 17.3 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in September 2015.

Compared with September 2014, unemployment fell by 1.8 million in the EU28 and by 1.2 million in the euro area.