Unemployment in the euro area and in the European Union slid to 6.4% and 5.9% respectively in August, according to the data provided by the European Union's statistical office Eurostat on Monday.

In July the eurozone’s unemployment rate, measured by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) methodology, was 6.5%.

In the 27-strong EU, this rate in July was by 0.1 percentage point higher than in August.

In August, Spain and Greece were the only countries with double-digit jobless rates, of 11.5% and 10.9% respectively.

They were followed by Estonia and Sweden, 7.6% each.

In Croatia, the unemployment rate, measured by the ILO methodology, rose by 0.1 percentage point from July to stand at 6.9% in August.

This August, 12.84 million citizens were jobless in the EU, and of them, 10.86 million were in the 20-strong euro area.

In Croatia, the number of those out of work rose by 1,000 from July to 122,000 in August.