Euro zone consumer prices fell by less than expected in February and core inflation held steady and unemployment eased in January for the third month in a row, data from the European statistics office showed on Monday.

Eurostat estimated that consumer prices in the 19 countries sharing the euro dropped 0.3 percent year-on-year after in February a 0.6 percent annual drop in January and a 0.2 percent fall in December.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected a 0.4 percent price decline.

Eurostat said that much cheaper energy, the prices of which were 7.9 percent lower in February than a year earlier and a 0.2 percent decline in prices of non-energy industrial goods were the main factors pulling down the overall index.

Without the volatile energy and unprocessed food components -- a measure the European Central Bank calls core inflation -- prices grew 0.6 percent year-on-year, the same as in January.

The ECB wants to keep inflation below, but close to 2 percent over the medium term, so to accelerate price growth it will start printing money later this month to buy euro zone government bonds - a policy known as 'quantitative easing'.

The ECB, which is expected to give more details of the plan after its policy meeting on Thursday, plans to spend 60 billion euros ($67.2 billion) a month on the program - buying mainly sovereign bonds, but also some private sector assets.

    By September next year, more than 1 trillion euros will have been created under quantitative easing, the ECB's last remaining major policy option for reviving economic growth and warding off deflation.

Eurostat data showed there were reasons for cautious optimism as euro zone unemployment, usually the last indicator to react to improving economic conditions, fell for the third month in a row to 11.2 percent of the workforce in January from 11.3 percent in December, 11.4 percent in November and 11.5 percent in October.

The number of people without jobs in the euro zone was 18.059 million in January against 18.199 million in December.