Bulgaria marked one of biggest year-on-year falls in unemployment rate in the EU in February 2015, official statistics showed on Tuesday.

The EU-28 unemployment rate was 9.8% in February, down from 9.9% in the prior month and from 10.5% in February 2014.

This is the lowest rate recorded in the EU-28 area since September 2011, according to monthly statistics published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates in February 2015 were recorded in Germany (4.8%) and Austria (5.3%), and the highest in Greece (26.0% in December 2014) and Spain (23.2%).

The largest year-over-year decreases were registered in Estonia (8.4% to 6.2% between January 2014 and January 2015), Ireland (12.1% to 9.9%) and Bulgaria (12.3% to 10.2%). The largest increases were registered in Croatia (17.3% to 18.5%), Cyprus (15.6% to 16.3%) and Finland (8.4% to 9.1%).