Across the EU as a whole, 18.2% of the working-age population were outside the labor force. This figure does not include people who are registered as unemployed or in education. Of the 81.8% who are in the EU labor force, 76.7% were employed and 5.1% were unemployed.
Among EU countries, Romania and Italy registered the highest share of people outside the labor force among those not in education in the first quarter of 2023, with 25.8% and 25.6%, respectively. These countries were followed by Greece (22.8%), Croatia (21.8%) and Belgium (19.6%).
On the other hand, the lowest shares were registered in Sweden (8.3%), Estonia (12.3%) and Czechia (13.6%). Lithuania had an equivalent figure of 15.4%, so while Latvia fares better than the EU average, it still has the largest share of people outside the labor force among the three Baltic states.
