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.
Ranking 2025
Values shown in %.
Analysis
This metric measures contributing family workers as a share of total male employment, using modeled ILO estimates expressed as a percentage. Contributing family workers are defined as those workers who hold 'self-employment jobs' as own-account workers in a market-oriented establishment operated by a related person living in the same household. The metric counts only male workers in this category and excludes wage employees, independent own-account workers, and employers. Data covers 186 countries, all with data from the last seven years, and 100% of data points are classified as official quality. The indicator code is SL.FAM.WORK.MA.ZS, sourced from the World Bank World Development Indicators, with a reference year of 2025. The dataset contains 24 extreme outliers identified at the 3-sigma threshold, and the range spans 0.04% to 44.27%, a spread of over 124,000%.
The top of the ranking is concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and Pacific island nations. Solomon Islands leads at 44.27% (rank 1), followed by South Sudan at 41.07% (rank 2) and Timor-Leste at 28.68% (rank 3). Azerbaijan sits at rank 4 with 27.34%, a notably high figure for a country outside the typical regional clusters. Nepal (rank 5, 26.80%), Madagascar (rank 6, 23.95%), Bhutan (rank 7, 23.90%), Niger (rank 8, 22.84%), and Ethiopia (rank 9, 22.77%) follow. These high-ranking countries share large agricultural and informal sectors where household-based labor arrangements are common among men.
The middle of the ranking, roughly ranks 50 to 120, shows a wide spread of values from around 7% down to 1%. Thailand ranks 29th at 11.13%, and Switzerland appears at rank 85 with 2.58%, placing it above several developing economies. Greece ranks 89th at 2.35%, and Romania and Slovenia rank 104th and 102nd at around 1.61% and 1.66% respectively. At the lower end, high-income nations dominate: the United States ranks 178th at 0.08%, Canada 184th at 0.06%, and Guyana last at 0.04%. A notable anomaly is Switzerland at rank 85 with 2.58%, ranking higher than many middle-income countries, which is an unusual placement visible directly in the data.
Several data limitations apply to this metric. The values are modeled ILO estimates, not direct survey counts, which means they incorporate statistical adjustments that can obscure country-level precision. The definition restricts coverage to workers in market-oriented establishments operated by a household member, excluding subsistence or non-market family labor, which may undercount actual family work arrangements in the most agrarian economies. The 24 extreme outliers identified at the 3-sigma threshold suggest significant distributional skew that can distort regional comparisons. Additionally, the metric captures only male employment and provides no direct comparison with female contributing family worker rates, limiting gender analysis within this dataset alone.
Methodology
The indicator SL.FAM.WORK.MA.ZS, sourced from the World Bank World Development Indicators, measures contributing family workers as a percentage of total male employment using modeled ILO estimates. Per the source definition, contributing family workers are those workers who hold 'self-employment jobs' as own-account workers in a market-oriented establishment operated by a related person living in the same household. The dataset covers 186 countries, all meeting the 80-country coverage threshold, with 100% of data points from the last seven years and 100% classified as official quality. The reference year is 2025, with 181 of 186 countries reporting in the latest year (97.3% consistency). The data exhibits a wide range of 0.04% to 44.27% (a spread of 124,586%), with 24 extreme outliers identified at the 3-sigma threshold and an average year-over-year change of 10.5%, well within the 50% volatility threshold. Higher values indicate a greater share of male workers in contributing family worker arrangements.