Countries by Employment to population ratio, 15+, total (%) (modeled ILO estimate)

Ranking 2025

Values shown in %.

Analysis

The employment-to-population ratio measures the proportion of a country's population that is employed, expressed as a percentage of the total population aged 15 and older. The metric captures the share of people in work but does not distinguish between full-time and part-time employment, formal and informal work, or adequate versus inadequate pay. Data cover 186 countries sourced from the World Bank World Development Indicators (indicator code SL.EMP.TOTL.SP.ZS), with all 186 countries providing data from the last seven years and 100% of datapoints classified as official-quality estimates. The 2025 data year reflects modeled ILO estimates, and values range from 21.2% to 86.9%, a spread of roughly 310%.

Qatar leads all 186 countries at 86.9%, followed by Solomon Islands at 83.1% (rank 2), Madagascar at 82.9% (rank 3), and Tanzania at 82.4% (rank 4). Cambodia rounds out the top five at 82.2%. The top tier mixes Gulf states with high migrant-labor workforces, such as Qatar (rank 1), United Arab Emirates (rank 11, 76.9%), Kuwait (rank 18, 71.8%), and Bahrain (rank 21, 69.7%), alongside Sub-Saharan African and Southeast Asian countries where high informal employment and subsistence agriculture keep participation elevated. Iceland is the highest-ranked European country at rank 17 with 72.2%.

Middle-ranked countries cluster between roughly 54% and 64%. The United States ranks 81st at 59.1%, Germany ranks 88th at 58.3%, and the United Kingdom ranks 87th at 58.5%. Several large economies appear lower than might be expected: India ranks 128th at 53.3%, and Italy ranks 157th at 46.2%. At the bottom, Jordan ranks 180th at 33.4%, Afghanistan ranks 181st at 32.5%, Somalia ranks 183rd at 27.4%, Yemen ranks 184th at 27.4%, Djibouti ranks 185th at 23.5%, and Sao Tome and Principe sits last at 21.2%. South Africa ranks 170th at 37.6%, placing it among the lowest in its region despite being one of the continent's larger economies.

Because this metric uses modeled ILO estimates, figures for countries with limited administrative data are derived through statistical modeling, which introduces uncertainty. The ratio does not account for underemployment, informal work quality, or whether employment is voluntary. High ratios in some low-income countries may partly reflect subsistence agriculture counted as employment. Gulf states' top rankings are influenced by large expatriate worker populations, which inflate the employed share relative to total residents. Additionally, countries affected by conflict or displacement, such as Syria (rank 182, 31.9%) and Yemen (rank 184, 27.4%), may have data that understates actual labor-market conditions due to reduced survey coverage.

Methodology

This ranking uses the World Bank World Development Indicators indicator SL.EMP.TOTL.SP.ZS, defined as follows: employment to population ratio is the proportion of a country's population that is employed. Values represent the share of the population aged 15 and older that is employed, expressed as a percentage, based on modeled ILO estimates. The dataset covers 186 countries, all of which have data from within the last seven years (100% recency) and 100% official-quality datapoints, both exceeding the required thresholds. The data year is 2025. Values range from 21.2% (Sao Tome and Principe) to 86.9% (Qatar), a spread of approximately 310%. No extreme outliers were identified using a 3-sigma threshold, and average year-over-year volatility is 1.7%, well within acceptable bounds. Figures are modeled estimates and may not reflect ground-level labor conditions in countries with weak statistical infrastructure.

Sources

• World Bank