Labour rankings
Who works, in what sectors, and on what terms. These rankings cover employment rates, unemployment, self-employment, and the gender gaps that shape labour markets worldwide. The numbers behind how countries put their people to work.
Countries by Employment in agriculture, female (% of female employment) (modeled ILO estimate)
Burundi ranks first globally, with 93.1% of employed women working in agriculture, hunting, forestry, or fishing. At the opposite end, Qatar records just 0.01%, placing last among 186 countries. The gap of more than 93 percentage points reflects the wide range of economic structures captured across this ranking.
Countries by Employment in agriculture, male (% of male employment) (modeled ILO estimate)
Burundi ranks first among 186 countries with 77.01% of male employment in agriculture, meaning roughly three in four working men are engaged in farming, hunting, forestry, or fishing. At the other end, Singapore records just 0.11%, the lowest share in the dataset. The gap of nearly 77 percentage points reflects the wide variation in economic structure across countries.
Countries by Employment in agriculture (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate)
Burundi ranks first globally, with 85.3% of its total employment in agriculture, meaning more than four in five workers are engaged in farming, hunting, forestry, or fishing. At the other end, Singapore records just 0.095%, reflecting an almost entirely services- and industry-based workforce. The 85-percentage-point gap between these two countries illustrates how sharply agricultural employment varies with economic structure.
Countries by Employers, male (% of male employment) (modeled ILO estimate)
Nigeria ranks 1st globally with 28.19% of male employment classified as employers, a share more than 150 times higher than Ethiopia's last-place figure of 0.19%. The 186-country dataset spans every major region and income level, with values ranging from under 0.5% across several Gulf and Eastern European states to double digits in a handful of African and Southeast Asian economies. That spread reflects deep structural differences in how male employment is organized across labor markets.
Countries by Self-employed, female (% of female employment) (modeled ILO estimate)
Chad ranks first globally with 96.75% of employed women classified as self-employed, meaning nearly all working women in the country operate outside formal wage employment. At the other end, Qatar records just 1.24%, placing it 186th out of 186 countries. The gap between these two extremes spans more than 95 percentage points, reflecting stark differences in the structure of female labor markets across the world.
Countries by Self-employed, male (% of male employment) (modeled ILO estimate)
Chad ranks first among 186 countries for male self-employment, with 88.07% of male workers classified as self-employed according to 2025 ILO modeled estimates. At the other end, Qatar records just 0.74%, making the gap between first and last place more than 87 percentage points. That spread reflects the wide variation in labor market structure, from largely informal agrarian economies to heavily state- or employer-dominated workforce arrangements.
Countries by Self-employed, total (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate)
Chad ranks first among 186 countries with 91.56% of its total employment classified as self-employment, according to the World Bank's modeled ILO estimates for 2025. At the opposite extreme, Qatar ranks last at just 0.83%. That gap of more than 90 percentage points reflects the wide variation in labor market structures across the countries covered.
Countries by Employment to population ratio, 15+, female (%) (modeled ILO estimate)
Solomon Islands ranks first in the female employment to population ratio among adults aged 15 and older, with 81.2% of the female population employed as of 2025. At the other end, Yemen records just 3.2%, producing a gap of nearly 78 percentage points between the top and bottom of the 186-country ranking. The spread reflects substantial variation across regions in how female labor is counted and distributed.
Countries by Employment to population ratio, 15+, male (%) (modeled ILO estimate)
Qatar ranks first among 186 countries in the male employment to population ratio with 95.49%, meaning nearly all males aged 15 and older are employed. At the other end, Sao Tome and Principe records 21.80%, less than a quarter of the same age group. The 73.7 percentage point gap reflects the wide variation in male labor market participation across economies of vastly different structures.
Countries by Employment to population ratio, 15+, total (%) (modeled ILO estimate)
Qatar ranks 1st with an employment-to-population ratio of 86.9%, meaning nearly 9 in 10 people aged 15 and older are employed. At the other end, Sao Tome and Principe ranks 186th at just 21.2%. The 65.7 percentage-point gap between top and bottom reflects wide structural differences in how economies absorb working-age populations.
Countries by Vulnerable employment, female (% of female employment) (modeled ILO estimate)
Chad ranks first with 96.2% of female employment classified as vulnerable, meaning nearly all working women there are contributing family workers or own-account workers. At the other end, Bahrain records just 0.62%, giving the ranking a spread of more than 95 percentage points. That gap reflects the wide variation in formal employment access for women across 186 countries.
Countries by Vulnerable employment, male (% of male employment) (modeled ILO estimate)
Chad ranks first globally for male vulnerable employment, with 86.2% of male workers classified as own-account or contributing family workers as of 2025. At the opposite end, Qatar records just 0.40%, giving the ranking a spread of nearly 86 percentage points. That gap reflects the full range of labor market structures captured across 186 countries.
Countries by Vulnerable employment, total (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate)
Chad ranks first with 90.2% of its workforce in vulnerable employment, meaning nine in ten workers are either contributing family workers or own-account workers with no formal employment security. At the other end, Qatar records just 0.46%, the lowest of 186 countries ranked. The 89.8 percentage point gap between them reflects the full spectrum of labour market formality across the world.
Countries by Wage and salaried workers, female (% of female employment) (modeled ILO estimate)
Qatar ranks first globally with 98.76% of employed women holding wage or salaried positions, meaning nearly all female workers there are in formal paid employment contracts. At the opposite end, Chad ranks 186th at just 3.25%, where the vast majority of employed women work outside formal wage arrangements. The gap of more than 95 percentage points reflects the extreme variation in female labor market structure across 186 countries.
Countries by Wage and salaried workers, male (% of male employment) (modeled ILO estimate)
Qatar ranks first with 99.3% of male workers in wage and salaried employment, meaning nearly every working man holds a formal paid job. At the other end, Chad ranks 186th at just 11.9%, where self-employment and informal work dominate. The 87-percentage-point gap between top and bottom reflects deep structural differences in labor markets across the 186 countries covered.
Countries by Wage and salaried workers, total (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate)
Qatar ranks first globally, with wage and salaried workers making up 99.17% of total employment, meaning nearly the entire workforce holds jobs with explicit or implicit employment contracts and fixed remuneration. At the other end, Chad ranks 186th at just 8.44%, where self-employment and informal work dominate. The 90-percentage-point gap between these two countries illustrates the vast structural differences in labor markets across the world.
Countries by Contributing family workers, male (% of male employment) (modeled ILO estimate)
Solomon Islands ranks first globally, with 44.27% of male employment classified as contributing family workers, more than double the share of third-ranked Timor-Leste at 28.68%. At the other end, Guyana records just 0.04%, a gap of over 1,200 percentage points between the top and bottom. That spread reflects deep structural differences in how male labor is organized across economies.
Countries by GDP per person employed (constant 2021 PPP $)
Luxembourg ranks first in GDP per person employed at $263,864 (constant 2021 PPP $), more than 107 times the value recorded for last-placed Burundi at $2,444. The spread from top to bottom — a range of over 10,695% — reflects profound differences in the economic output each employed worker generates across the 177 countries covered. Ireland ($234,913) and Singapore ($223,022) occupy the second and third positions, while the lowest-ranked countries are concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa.
Countries by Employment in industry, female (% of female employment) (modeled ILO estimate)
Lesotho ranks first among 186 countries in female employment in industry, with 35.71% of female employment falling in the industrial sector. At the other end, Burundi records just 0.55%, producing a gap of more than 35 percentage points between the top and bottom. The spread reflects wide variation in how female labor is distributed across industrial activity worldwide.
Countries by Employment in industry, male (% of male employment) (modeled ILO estimate)
The Slovak Republic ranks first globally, with 47.55% of male employment concentrated in industry, just ahead of Czechia at 46.31% and Qatar at 45.51%. At the opposite end, South Sudan records just 2.02%, meaning male workers there are almost entirely outside industry. The 45-percentage-point gap across 186 countries reflects deeply different economic structures and labor market compositions worldwide.
Countries by Employment in industry (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate)
Oman ranks first globally for employment in industry as a share of total employment, with 39.44% of its workforce in the sector. At the other end, South Sudan records just 1.67%, producing a gap of nearly 38 percentage points between the top and bottom. That spread reflects the wide variation in how economies are structured across 186 countries.
Countries by Employment in services, female (% of female employment) (modeled ILO estimate)
Djibouti ranks first globally, with 98.2% of employed women working in the services sector, according to 2025 World Bank modeled ILO estimates. At the other end, Afghanistan sits last at 3.7%, yielding a gap of nearly 95 percentage points between the two countries. This spread reflects the wide variation in how female labor is distributed across sectors worldwide.
Countries by Employment in services, male (% of male employment) (modeled ILO estimate)
Djibouti ranks first globally for male employment in services at 89.9% of male employment, while Burundi sits at the opposite extreme with just 17.2%. That gap of more than 72 percentage points spans 186 countries and reflects the full range of economic structures worldwide, from service-dominated urban economies to agrarian ones where most male workers remain in agriculture.
Countries by Employment in services (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate)
Djibouti leads all 186 countries ranked by employment in services as a share of total employment, with 92.2% of its workforce in the services sector. At the other end, Burundi records just 11.6%, producing a gap of more than 80 percentage points between the top and bottom. That spread reflects the wide range of economic structures captured across this dataset.
Countries by Ratio of female to male labor force participation rate (%) (modeled ILO estimate)
Burundi ranks first among 186 countries with a female-to-male labor force participation ratio of 103.3%, meaning women participate in the labor force at a slightly higher rate than men. At the opposite end, Afghanistan records a ratio of just 7.3%, placing it 186th. The 96-percentage-point gap between these two countries reflects the wide variation in how equally men and women participate in economic activity across the world.
Countries by Labor force, female (% of total labor force)
Moldova ranks first globally with women making up 55.36% of its total labor force, the only country where women form a clear majority of workers. At the other end, Afghanistan sits last at just 6.78%, a gap of nearly 49 percentage points. This spread across 186 countries reflects wide variation in how women participate in paid and self-employed work worldwide.
Countries by Labor force, total
China ranks first with a total labor force of 767,626,880, more than 22,800 times larger than Tonga, which ranks last at 33,628. India ranks second at 617,625,336, and together the two countries account for a dominant share of global labor supply. The gap reflects vast differences in population size, age structure, and labor force participation rates across the 186 countries covered.
Countries by Unemployment, female (% of female labor force) (modeled ILO estimate)
West Bank and Gaza leads all 186 countries with a female unemployment rate of 40.00%, nearly 173 times higher than Cambodia at the bottom of the ranking with 0.23%. The gap between first and last spans more than 39 percentage points, reflecting extreme variation in female labor force conditions across regions. High-income, low-income, and conflict-affected economies are distributed throughout the ranking in ways that do not follow a simple pattern.
Countries by Unemployment, male (% of male labor force) (modeled ILO estimate)
Eswatini records the highest male unemployment rate among 186 countries at 32.46%, meaning roughly one in three men in its labor force is without work but actively seeking it. At the opposite end, Qatar posts just 0.072%, a gap of more than 32 percentage points. That spread reflects the wide variation in labor market structures, economic conditions, and statistical measurement practices across the countries covered.
Countries by Unemployment, total (% of total labor force) (modeled ILO estimate)
Eswatini records the highest unemployment rate in this 186-country ranking at 34.202%, meaning more than one in three labor force participants are without work but actively seeking it. At the opposite end, Qatar posts a rate of just 0.130%, a gap of more than 34 percentage points. That spread — covering 186 countries across every income level and region — illustrates how unevenly labor market conditions are distributed globally.