Moldova's unemployment rate fell to 4.2% in 2016 from 4.9% a year earlier, the country's statistics bureau (BNS) said on Tuesday.

The number of unemployed in the country of 3.5 million people was 53,300 last year, down by 8,800 from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said in a statement.

The jobless rate was 11.2% among people aged between 15 and 24 and 8.1% among people aged between 15 and 29.

The workforce in the country rose by 1.3% on the year to 1.22 million people in 2016. Last year, the unemployment rate among men in Moldova was 5.5% versus 2.9% among women.

The statistics bureau also said the jobless rate was 6.0% in urban areas and 2.6% in rural areas, See News reports.