BRUSSELS - Unemployment rate of the euro area stood at 12.1 percent in July, the same as last month and also the highest level since such statistics started to publicize in 1995, European Union (EU) statistics office said Friday.

In the wider 29-member EU, the overall unemployment rate in July was 11 percent, the same as the previous month, Eurostat figures showed.

In both zones, jobless rates have risen markedly compared with a year ago, when they stood at 11.5 percent in the eurozone and 10.5 percent in the EU respectively.

Eurostat estimates that 26.654 million men and women in the EU, of whom 19.231 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in July 2013. Month on month, the number of persons unemployed decreased by 33,000 in the EU and by 15,000 in the euro area.