SOFIA, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The unemployment rate in Bulgaria fell to 5.6 percent in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2017, reaching the lowest level since the end of 2008, before the global economic crisis hit, official data showed here Wednesday.

There were 189,300 people registered as unemployed in Bulgaria, and the unemployment rate declined by 1.1 percent year-on-year in the last quarter of last year, the country's National Statistical Institute (NSI) said.

Of the total number of unemployed persons, 53.6 percent were men and 46.4 percent were women, the NSI said.

Meanwhile, 16.8 percent of all unemployed persons had attained a higher level of education, 48.0 percent had completed upper secondary education, and 35.2 percent had at most lower secondary education, the NSI said.

The number of long-term unemployed persons (those unemployed for longer than a year) was 105,200, the NSI added.