BRUSSELS
The inflation rate in the euro area has dropped to below zero for the first time in five years, the EU statistical office said on Wednesday.
For countries that have adopted the euro as their currency, inflation is expected to have been at -0.2 percent in December 2014, down from 0.3 percent in November.
The negative rate of inflation is driven by the fall in oil and energy prices. However, prices for food and tobacco remain stable, Eurostat said in a statement.
In a separate report, Eurostat also revealed that the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 10 percent in November 2014 for the entire EU, down from 10.1 percent in October 2014.
Eurostat estimates that 24.4 million men and women in the 28 EU Member States, of whom 18.4 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in November 2014.
EU Member States with the lowest unemployment rates in November 2014 were Austria at 4.9 percent and Germany at 5 percent, while Member States with the highest unemployment rates were Greece at 25.7 percent in September 2014 and Spain at 23.9 percent in November 2014.
In November 2014, 5.1 million people under the age of 25 were unemployed in the EU, of whom 3.4 million were in the euro area.
