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.

Labour category

Ranking 2025

Values shown in %.

Countries by Employment to population ratio, 15+, female (%) (modeled ILO estimate)
Rank	Country	%
1	Solomon Islands	81.17
2	Madagascar	80.17
3	Burundi	78.85
4	Tanzania	78.50
5	Nigeria	77.57
6	Cambodia	77.17
7	North Korea	74.87
8	Benin	74.13
9	Uganda	73.11
10	Niger	72.56
11	Mozambique	71.56
12	Moldova	71.44
13	Bolivia	70.46
14	Liberia	70.43
15	Eritrea	67.94
16	Iceland	67.67
17	Vietnam	67.62
18	Bahamas	64.25
19	New Zealand	62.59
20	Angola	61.92
21	Macao	61.80
22	Singapore	61.74
23	Qatar	61.61
24	Burkina Faso	61.35
25	Peru	61.28
26	Laos	61.00
27	Central African Republic	60.88
28	South Sudan	60.82
29	Timor-Leste	60.67
30	Jamaica	60.33
31	Israel	60.18
32	Netherlands	60.15
33	Australia	59.98
34	DR Congo	59.66
35	Norway	59.39
36	Kazakhstan	59.23
37	Guinea-Bissau	59.13
38	Switzerland	59.09
39	Kenya	58.79
40	Thailand	58.48
41	Côte d'Ivoire	57.89
42	Cyprus	57.87
43	Denmark	57.32
44	Ireland	57.05
45	Azerbaijan	56.95
46	Barbados	56.78
47	China	56.78
48	Zimbabwe	56.33
49	Canada	56.26
50	Sweden	56.24
51	Estonia	56.09
52	Ethiopia	55.81
53	Togo	55.49
54	Paraguay	55.41
55	Saint Lucia	55.34
56	South Korea	55.25
57	Belarus	55.25
58	United Kingdom	54.81
59	Malawi	54.69
60	Japan	54.62
61	Bhutan	54.38
62	Cameroon	54.25
63	Malta	54.22
64	Lithuania	54.01
65	United States	53.99
66	Luxembourg	53.76
67	Ghana	53.48
68	Guam	53.47
69	Germany	53.41
70	Russia	53.34
71	Zambia	52.95
72	Uruguay	52.30
73	Austria	52.21
74	Latvia	52.20
75	Indonesia	52.10
76	Albania	52.02
77	Slovakia	51.94
78	Hungary	51.92
79	Republic of Congo	51.72
80	Czechia	51.69
81	Brunei	51.56
82	Finland	51.48
83	Mali	51.25
84	Portugal	51.06
85	United Arab Emirates	50.81
86	Georgia	50.65
87	Hong Kong	50.63
88	Sierra Leone	50.52
89	Slovenia	50.52
90	Ecuador	50.24
91	Vanuatu	49.99
92	Poland	49.99
93	Rwanda	49.95
94	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	49.76
95	Papua New Guinea	49.76
96	Malaysia	49.65
97	Dominican Republic	49.52
98	Brazil	49.50
99	Philippines	49.24
100	Panama	49.21
101	Mongolia	49.14
102	Bulgaria	48.72
103	Serbia	48.68
104	Nicaragua	48.61
105	Argentina	48.20
106	Haiti	47.82
107	Chile	47.80
108	Equatorial Guinea	47.73
109	France	47.60
110	El Salvador	47.30
111	Belgium	46.98
111	Chad	46.98
113	Spain	46.52
114	U.S. Virgin Islands	46.32
115	Colombia	46.20
116	Mexico	46.16
117	Botswana	45.94
118	Trinidad and Tobago	45.92
119	Comoros	45.55
120	Croatia	44.94
121	New Caledonia	44.90
122	Namibia	44.81
123	Cabo Verde	44.72
124	Kuwait	44.36
125	Armenia	44.03
126	Montenegro	43.95
127	Mauritius	43.84
128	Ukraine	42.89
129	Gambia	42.68
130	Costa Rica	42.44
131	Kyrgyzstan	42.37
132	Tonga	41.27
133	Guyana	40.99
134	French Polynesia	40.78
135	Bahrain	40.76
136	Guinea	40.50
137	Belize	40.22
138	Suriname	40.05
139	Greece	39.61
140	Myanmar	39.49
141	Romania	39.48
142	Cuba	39.22
142	Lesotho	39.22
144	Maldives	39.07
145	Uzbekistan	38.45
146	North Macedonia	37.99
147	Italy	37.82
148	Turkmenistan	37.29
149	Bangladesh	37.23
150	Guatemala	37.07
151	Honduras	37.05
152	Senegal	37.03
153	Fiji	35.81
154	Puerto Rico	34.99
155	Venezuela	34.93
156	Bosnia and Herzegovina	34.04
157	South Africa	32.92
158	Türkiye	32.82
159	India	31.08
160	Eswatini	31.04
161	Saudi Arabia	30.32
162	Gabon	29.73
163	Sri Lanka	28.98
164	Samoa	28.50
165	Oman	26.62
166	Libya	24.68
167	Nepal	24.23
168	Pakistan	22.38
169	Mauritania	22.32
170	Tunisia	21.09
171	Tajikistan	21.02
172	Sao Tome and Principe	20.64
173	Lebanon	19.02
174	Morocco	17.60
175	Egypt	15.63
176	Somalia	15.61
177	Djibouti	12.50
178	Sudan	12.43
179	Jordan	12.29
180	Iran	11.83
181	Palestine	11.36
182	Algeria	11.22
183	Syria	9.41
184	Iraq	7.64
185	Afghanistan	3.81
186	Yemen	3.25

Analysis

This metric measures the proportion of a country's female population aged 15 and older that is employed, expressed as a percentage. Coverage spans 186 countries, all meeting the threshold of 80 required for publication. All 186 data points are from within the last 7 years, and 100% are classified as official-quality estimates. The ranking shows a range from 3.25% to 81.17%, a spread of 2,398%, with no extreme outliers identified at the 3-standard-deviation threshold. Average year-over-year change is 2.3%, indicating stable trends across the dataset.

The top of the ranking is led by Solomon Islands at 81.2% (rank 1), Madagascar at 80.2% (rank 2), and Burundi at 78.9% (rank 3). Sub-Saharan African and Southeast Asian countries are strongly represented in the top tier: Tanzania ranks 4th at 78.5%, Nigeria 5th at 77.6%, and Cambodia 6th at 77.2%. Among high-income countries, Iceland leads at rank 16 with 67.7%, followed by New Zealand at rank 19 with 62.6%. The Netherlands ranks 32nd at 60.2% and Australia 33rd at 60.0%, reflecting relatively high female labor participation among OECD nations.

The middle of the ranking includes a mix of large economies and developing countries. The United States sits at rank 65 with 54.0%, Germany at rank 69 with 53.4%, and France at rank 109 with 47.6%. Italy ranks 147th at 37.8%, placing it well below most of its Western European peers. At the lower end of the ranking, several MENA-region countries cluster together: Jordan ranks 179th at 12.3%, Iran 180th at 11.8%, West Bank and Gaza 181st at 11.4%, Algeria 182nd at 11.2%, Syria 183rd at 9.4%, Iraq 184th at 7.6%, Afghanistan 185th at 3.8%, and Yemen last at 3.2%.

The modeled nature of these estimates introduces relevant uncertainty. ILO modeled figures are produced using statistical techniques to fill gaps where direct survey data is incomplete or absent, meaning some country values are estimates rather than observed measurements. The metric counts all employed persons as a share of the total female population aged 15 and older, but does not distinguish between full-time and part-time work, formal and informal employment, or paid and unpaid labor. Countries with large informal agricultural sectors may record high ratios that do not reflect equivalent income or working conditions. Additionally, 5 of 186 countries lack a 2025 data point specifically, with coverage at 97.3% for the latest year.

Methodology

This ranking uses World Bank World Development Indicators indicator SL.EMP.TOTL.SP.FE.ZS, reporting modeled ILO estimates for the female employment to population ratio among adults aged 15 and older for the data year 2025. As defined in the source note, employment to population ratio is the proportion of a country's population that is employed. The unit is percentage (%). Higher values indicate a greater share of the female population is employed. The dataset covers 186 countries, meeting the minimum threshold of 80. All 186 data points are from within the last 7 years (100% recency), and 100% are official-quality estimates, exceeding the 70% quality threshold. The data range spans 3.25% to 81.17%, a spread of 2,398.2%. No extreme outliers were identified at the 3-standard-deviation threshold. Average year-over-year change is 2.3%, well within the 50% volatility threshold. 181 of 186 countries (97.3%) have data specifically for 2025. Because these are modeled estimates, values for countries with limited survey infrastructure carry greater uncertainty than those based on direct measurement.

Sources

World Bank