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

Ranking 2025

Values shown in %.

Analysis

This metric measures the share of total employment accounted for by the agriculture sector, expressed as a percentage. 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 with data from within the last 7 years, and 97.3% of countries have data from the latest reference year of 2025. All datapoints are classified as official quality. No extreme statistical outliers were identified under a 3-standard-deviation threshold.

The top of the ranking is dominated by sub-Saharan African and South/Southeast Asian economies. Burundi leads at 85.3% (rank 1), followed by Mozambique at 73.0% (rank 2) and Niger at 73.0% (rank 3). Chad (rank 4, 71.7%), Madagascar (rank 5, 69.2%), and Lao PDR (rank 6, 68.6%) also exceed two-thirds of total employment in agriculture. Every country in the top 15 exceeds 58%, and 11 of the top 15 are in sub-Saharan Africa. These high shares correspond to economies where a large proportion of the workforce is engaged in subsistence or smallholder farming.

The middle of the ranking shows considerable diversity. India sits at rank 38 with 41.6%, placing it alongside countries such as Cameroon (rank 37, 41.9%) and Liberia (rank 39, 41.1%). China ranks 81st at 21.7%, while the United States ranks 169th at just 1.5%. A notable anomaly is Moldova at rank 24 with 50.5%, placing it above many lower-income nations and far above its European neighbors. Romania ranks 107th at 10.9% and Bulgaria at 134th at 4.7%, making Moldova's figure stand out sharply within the European context. Korea, Dem. People's Rep. ranks 20th at 54.1%, higher than all other East Asian economies in the dataset by a wide margin.

This metric has several limitations. The modeled ILO estimate methodology means figures for some countries are derived from statistical models rather than direct surveys, which can introduce uncertainty, particularly for nations with limited labor force survey infrastructure. The metric counts persons engaged in agricultural activity but does not distinguish between full-time wage employment and subsistence or informal work. Seasonal workers who are temporarily absent may be counted differently across country surveys. The metric also cannot capture productivity, income levels, or working conditions within the sector, so a high share does not necessarily reflect a particular standard of living or labor market outcome.

Methodology

Data are sourced from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code SL.AGR.EMPL.ZS, with a reference year of 2025. The metric is a modeled ILO estimate. 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 meeting the 80-country coverage threshold. All 186 countries (100%) have data from within the last 7 years, and 181 of 186 (97.3%) have data from the latest reference year. All datapoints are classified as official quality, exceeding the 70% threshold. Zero extreme outliers were detected using a 3-standard-deviation test. Values range from 0.10% (Singapore) to 85.34% (Burundi), a spread of over 89,000%. Average year-over-year change is 4.0%, well within the 50% volatility threshold.

Sources

• World Bank