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

Ranking 2025

Values shown in %.

Analysis

This metric measures the share of male employment accounted for by the agriculture sector, expressed as a percentage of total male employment. According to the source definition, employment covers persons 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 working-time arrangement. The agriculture sector consists of activities in agriculture, hunting, forestry, and fishing, in accordance with division 1 (ISIC 2). Higher values indicate a larger share of male workers in the agricultural sector. The dataset covers 186 countries, all with data from the last 7 years (100% recency), and 100% of datapoints are classified as official quality estimates. No extreme outliers were detected using a 3-standard-deviation threshold, and average year-over-year change is 4.0%, indicating relatively stable trends across the dataset.

The top of the ranking is dominated by sub-Saharan African and Southeast Asian economies. Burundi leads at 77.01% (rank 1), followed by Madagascar at 70.06% (rank 2), Chad at 69.97% (rank 3), Lao PDR at 68.79% (rank 4), and Niger at 68.68% (rank 5). Ethiopia (67.63%, rank 6), Mali (64.34%, rank 7), Central African Republic (63.80%, rank 8), Mozambique (63.68%, rank 9), and Tanzania (62.47%, rank 10) round out the top ten. In all of these countries, more than 60% of male workers are recorded as employed in agriculture, hunting, forestry, or fishing.

The middle of the ranking shows considerable diversity. India sits at rank 49 with 34.43%, placing it in the upper half of the global distribution despite its large industrial and services sectors. Moldova ranks 23rd at 49.48%, a notably high placement for a European country, with nearly half of male employment in agriculture. China ranks 78th at 24.19%. At the lower end of the ranking, high-income Gulf states cluster near the bottom: Saudi Arabia ranks 157th at 2.94%, Kuwait 164th at 2.40%, Qatar 169th at 1.97%, and the United Arab Emirates 170th at 1.83%. Most Western European and anglophone high-income countries also record shares below 5%.

Several data limitations apply to this metric. The estimates are modeled ILO figures, meaning they are not all drawn directly from national surveys but are produced using statistical modeling to fill gaps and ensure comparability. Countries with weak statistical infrastructure may have less reliable underlying survey data, which can affect model outputs. The metric measures employment shares, not absolute numbers, so a country with a small workforce can rank alongside one with a large workforce if their shares are similar. The indicator does not distinguish between subsistence and commercial agriculture, nor does it capture informal or seasonal work that falls outside the ILO employment definition. Comparability across countries may also be affected by differences in how national surveys define and record agricultural activity.

Methodology

Data are drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code SL.AGR.EMPL.MA.ZS, with a reference year of 2025. The metric is defined as male employment in agriculture as a percentage of total male employment, using modeled ILO estimates. 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 dataset covers 186 countries, all meeting the minimum coverage threshold of 80. All 186 countries (100%) have data from the last 7 years, and 100% of datapoints carry official quality classification, exceeding the 70% threshold. No extreme outliers were identified at the 3-standard-deviation level. Average year-over-year change across the dataset is 4.0%, well below the 50% volatility threshold. The value range runs from 0.11% (Singapore) to 77.01% (Burundi), a spread of over 69,000%. Estimates are modeled and may not directly reflect single-year national survey results.

Sources

• World Bank