Brussels, 03/07/2006 (Agence Europe) - In May 2006, the unemployment rate in the Euro-zone was 7.9%, compares to 8% in April and 8.7% in May 2005. In the EU-25, it rose to 8.2%, unchanged compared to figures for April and lower than in May 2005, when it stood at 8.8%. Available data shows that seventeen Member States experienced a fall in their rates of unemployment compared to a year ago and seven countries experienced a rise. The most significant falls were in Estonia (from 8.2% à 4.9%), in Lithuania (from 8.7% à 5.6%), in Denmark (from 5.2% to 3.9%) and Netherlands (from 4.8% à 3.9%), while the highest increases were in Malta (from 7.2% to 8.3%), United Kingdom (from 4.6% in March 2005 to 5.2% in March 2006), Cyprus (from 5.1% in March 2005 to 5.5% in March 2006), in Slovenia (from 6.2% to 6.5%) and Luxembourg (from 4.5% to 4.7%). In May 2006, the unemployment rate stood at 4.6%, and Japan's at 4.0%.