Countries by Employment in agriculture, female (% of female employment) (modeled ILO estimate)

Ranking 2025

Values shown in %.

Analysis

This metric measures female employment in agriculture as a share of total female employment, expressed as a percentage. It covers women of working age engaged in any activity to produce goods or provide services for pay or profit, whether at work during the reference period or not at work due to temporary absence from a job or to working-time arrangement. The agriculture sector consists of activities in agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing, in accordance with division 1 (ISIC 2). The ranking covers 186 countries, with 100% of data points classified as official quality and all 186 countries providing data from within the last seven years. The data year is 2025, sourced from the World Bank World Development Indicators (indicator code SL.AGR.EMPL.FE.ZS). Values range from 0.01% to 93.13%, a spread of over 770,000%, and no extreme outliers were identified using a 3-standard-deviation threshold.

The top of the ranking is dominated by sub-Saharan African and South Asian countries. Burundi leads at 93.1% (rank 1), followed by Mozambique at 81.8% (rank 2) and Niger at 78.3% (rank 3). Bangladesh ranks 4th at 74.7% and Afghanistan 5th at 74.6%, making them the highest-ranked Asian countries. Chad (74.4%, rank 6), Malawi (71.2%, rank 7), Uganda (70.8%, rank 8), and Central African Republic (68.5%, rank 9) continue the pattern of high shares across the region. Lao PDR (68.4%, rank 10) and Madagascar (68.3%, rank 11) round out the top eleven, all reporting that more than two-thirds of employed women work in the agricultural sector.

The middle of the ranking shows considerable variation. Moldova ranks 28th at 51.3%, notably higher than most European countries, reflecting its rural economy structure. India ranks 20th at 59.8%, placing it among the countries with the highest female agricultural employment shares globally. Bangladesh at rank 4 (74.7%) places higher than Pakistan at rank 12 (68.0%), despite both being large South Asian economies. In the lower-middle range, Greece ranks 96th at 9.2% and Romania 97th at 8.4%, both higher than many wealthier European peers. At the bottom, Gulf Cooperation Council states cluster tightly: Saudi Arabia ranks 173rd at 0.45%, Kuwait 181st at 0.15%, Hong Kong SAR ranks 182nd at 0.10%, Singapore 183rd at 0.08%, United Arab Emirates 184th at 0.06%, Bahrain 185th at 0.04%, and Qatar last at 0.01%.

This metric has several relevant limitations. It captures share of female employment rather than absolute numbers, so a country with a small female workforce concentrated in agriculture will rank highly regardless of scale. The modeled ILO estimate methodology means that for some countries, figures are derived from statistical models rather than direct surveys, which can introduce uncertainty. Informal agricultural work may be undercounted or inconsistently classified across countries, particularly where subsistence farming predominates. The indicator does not distinguish between paid and unpaid family labor, part-time and full-time work, or subsistence and commercial agriculture. Comparisons between countries with very different labor force survey methodologies should be made with caution.

Methodology

Data is drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code SL.AGR.EMPL.FE.ZS, for the reference year 2025. The metric is defined as female employment in agriculture as a percentage of total female employment (modeled ILO estimate). Per the source definition: employment is defined as persons of working age who were engaged in any activity to produce goods or provide services for pay or profit, whether at work during the reference period or not at work due to temporary absence from a job, or to working-time arrangement. The agriculture sector consists of activities in agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing, in accordance with division 1 (ISIC 2). The ranking covers 186 countries, all providing data from within the last seven years (100% recency). All data points are classified as official quality (100%). No extreme outliers were identified using a 3-standard-deviation threshold. The average year-over-year change across countries is 6.1%, well within the 50% volatility threshold. Values range from 0.01% (Qatar) to 93.13% (Burundi). Data for 181 of 186 countries (97.3%) is from the latest reference year. The modeled nature of ILO estimates means some values are statistically derived rather than directly observed from surveys.

Sources

• World Bank