Greece's youth unemployment rate hit 51.1pc in December, official statistics from ELSTAT showed on Thursday.
In contrast, Germany's youth unemployment rate is just 7.8pc.
The worrying youth jobless figure in Greece has overtaken crisis-hit Spain, which has its own youth jobless rate of 49.9pc, according to the latest available figures.
Overall, the jobless rate in Greece hit 21pc, up from 20.9pc in November and twice the eurozone rate.
The youth unemployment rate is twice as high as three years ago, according to the figures, which are not adjusted for seasonal factors.
A wave of corporate closures and bankruptcies have been brought on through budget cuts imposed by the European Union and International Monetary Fund as a condition for saving the debt-laden country from a chaotic default.
Some 600,000 jobs have been lost since 2008, when Greece's economy plunged into its deepest and longest post-war recession.
Nikos Magginas, an economist at National Bank of Greece, said: "Despite some emergency government measures to boost employment in early 2012, it is hard to see how the upward unemployment trend can be stabilized in the first half of the year."
Ten worst youth unemployment rates across the EU
| Country | Youth unemployment rate (January 2012*) | |
|---|---|---|
| Greece | 51.1pc (December) | |
| Spain | 49.9pc | |
| Slovakia | 36pc | |
| Portugal | 35.1pc | |
| Lithuania | 34.4pc (December) | |
| Italy | 31.1pc | |
| Latvia | 29.9pc (Q3 2011) | |
| Ireland | 29.6pc | |
| Bulgaria | 28.9pc | |
| Poland | 27.5pc | |
| UK 22.2pc | (Q3 2011) |
*All figures for January 2012 unless otherwise stated
A record 1.03m people were without work in December, 41pc more than in the same month last year. The number in work dropped to a record low of 3.9m, down 7.9pc year-on-year.
Last month Greece slashed its minimum monthly wage by about a fifth to about 580 euros (£486), gross, to encourage hirings.
German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, however, said on Wednesday this was still higher than other debt-laden countries such as Spain.
The average unemployment rate for 2011 jumped to 17.3pc from 12.5pc in the previous year, according to the figures.
The average jobless rate in the 17 countries sharing the euro rose slightly in December to a seasonally adjusted 10.6pc, from 10.5pc in November.
Greece and Spain are the two worst countries in the eurozone in terms of youth unemployment, each with half of people under 25 out of work.
Other eurozone areas suffering high youth unemployment include Portugal, Italy and Poland. The UK's youth jobless rate is 22.2pc.
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