Figures published today by the European Union’s statistical service Eurostat reveal that the jobless rate among the 17 members of the single currency bloc remained unchanged in December at 11.7%. This comes after the 11.8% originally given for November was revised down by 0.1%.

In total, an estimated 18.7 million people were out of work in the eurozone at the end of 2012, of whom 3.6 million were under 25. The eurozone youth unemployment rate ended the year at 24%, down from 24.4% in November, but up from 21.7% at the end of 2011.

The overall eurozone figure masks considerable variations between individual member states. In Greece, the unemployment rate was 26.8% in October – the most recent data available – while in Spain, it was 26.1% in December. Conversely, it was just 4.3% in Austria, 5.3% in Germany and Luxembourg and 5.8% in the Netherlands.

In the EU as a whole, the jobless rate in December remained unchanged from the month before at 10.7% but was higher than the 10% recorded the previous December. In total, 1.7 million more people were out of work than at the end of 2011.

More than 5.7 million young people are now out of work in the EU, 237,000 more than a year earlier.

Both the EU and eurozone jobless rates remain well above those of other major economic powers. The US ended the year at 7.8%, while Japan’s November figure was 4.1%.

In separate figures also published today, Eurostat estimates the inflation rate in the eurozone in January was 2%, down from 2.2% in December. This puts it near the target of below, but close to, 2% that the European Central Bank believes is required for price stability.