Countries by Ratio of female to male labor force participation rate (%) (modeled ILO estimate)

Burundi ranks first among 186 countries with a female-to-male labor force participation ratio of 103.3%, meaning women participate in the labor force at a slightly higher rate than men. At the opposite end, Afghanistan records a ratio of just 7.3%, placing it 186th. The 96-percentage-point gap between these two countries reflects the wide variation in how equally men and women participate in economic activity across the world.

Labour category

Ranking 2025

Values shown in %.

Countries by Ratio of female to male labor force participation rate (%) (modeled ILO estimate)
Rank	Country	%
1	Burundi	103.28
2	Moldova	100.12
3	Benin	96.91
4	Togo	95.93
5	Mozambique	95.74
6	Nigeria	95.73
7	Solomon Islands	95.53
8	Papua New Guinea	95.42
9	Sao Tome and Principe	94.97
10	Madagascar	94.12
11	U.S. Virgin Islands	93.92
12	Republic of Congo	93.54
13	Sierra Leone	93.53
14	Angola	93.23
15	DR Congo	92.52
16	Azerbaijan	92.03
17	Tanzania	91.95
18	South Sudan	91.85
19	Gambia	91.82
20	Bahamas	91.62
21	Sweden	90.99
22	Israel	90.52
23	Norway	89.86
24	Eswatini	89.80
25	Finland	89.70
26	North Korea	89.58
27	Ghana	89.37
28	Uganda	89.31
29	Barbados	88.77
30	Liberia	88.67
31	Vietnam	88.65
32	Australia	88.44
33	New Zealand	88.41
34	Cambodia	88.08
35	Iceland	87.94
36	Portugal	87.93
37	Denmark	87.88
38	Luxembourg	87.75
39	Kenya	87.73
40	United Kingdom	87.40
41	Estonia	87.35
42	Canada	87.33
43	Netherlands	87.23
44	Switzerland	87.17
45	Laos	87.16
46	Namibia	87.11
47	Guinea-Bissau	86.64
48	Eritrea	86.56
49	France	86.45
50	Malawi	86.39
51	Bolivia	86.30
52	Botswana	86.12
53	Macao	85.72
54	Kazakhstan	85.38
55	Timor-Leste	85.37
56	Ireland	85.23
57	Spain	84.89
58	Vanuatu	84.70
59	China	84.68
60	Belgium	84.44
61	Singapore	84.34
62	Cyprus	84.23
63	Austria	84.16
64	Burkina Faso	84.16
65	Niger	84.13
66	United States	84.02
67	Germany	83.70
68	Zimbabwe	83.69
69	Haiti	83.65
70	Lithuania	83.64
71	Hong Kong	83.46
72	Zambia	83.44
73	Slovakia	83.43
74	Albania	83.41
75	Slovenia	83.26
76	Guam	83.18
77	Turkmenistan	82.95
78	Saint Lucia	82.90
79	Latvia	82.65
80	Croatia	82.59
81	Jamaica	82.57
82	New Caledonia	82.35
83	Belarus	81.26
84	Rwanda	81.16
85	South Africa	80.79
86	Bulgaria	80.78
87	Hungary	80.45
88	Peru	80.43
89	French Polynesia	80.33
90	Côte d'Ivoire	79.90
91	Cabo Verde	79.61
92	Czechia	79.18
93	Serbia	79.11
94	Central African Republic	79.10
95	Russia	79.02
96	Bhutan	78.99
97	South Korea	78.86
98	Poland	78.69
99	Thailand	78.64
100	Montenegro	78.30
101	Equatorial Guinea	78.25
102	Japan	78.21
103	Uruguay	78.01
104	Malta	77.99
105	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	77.63
106	Georgia	77.15
107	Cameroon	76.54
108	Ukraine	75.98
109	Mongolia	75.43
110	Guyana	74.78
111	Brunei	74.77
112	Greece	74.62
113	Comoros	74.59
114	Ethiopia	74.33
115	Puerto Rico	74.31
116	Chile	73.53
117	Armenia	73.44
118	Argentina	73.22
119	Brazil	72.80
120	Paraguay	72.31
121	Lesotho	71.87
122	Tonga	71.80
123	Suriname	71.44
124	Panama	70.55
125	Dominican Republic	70.27
126	Trinidad and Tobago	70.14
127	Italy	70.00
128	Philippines	69.67
129	Gabon	69.23
130	North Macedonia	69.12
131	Colombia	68.20
132	Ecuador	68.15
133	Mauritius	68.12
134	Romania	67.78
135	Guinea	67.58
136	Costa Rica	65.96
137	Chad	65.96
138	Bosnia and Herzegovina	65.43
139	Indonesia	65.29
140	Mali	65.22
141	Malaysia	65.20
142	Belize	64.87
143	Qatar	64.73
144	El Salvador	63.48
145	Nicaragua	62.69
146	Kyrgyzstan	61.82
147	Mexico	61.53
148	Cuba	61.43
149	Myanmar	58.77
150	Senegal	58.16
151	United Arab Emirates	57.92
152	Samoa	56.40
153	Uzbekistan	55.70
154	Venezuela	54.94
155	Honduras	53.83
156	Kuwait	53.30
157	Maldives	53.29
158	Libya	52.75
159	Nepal	51.93
160	Türkiye	51.67
161	Fiji	50.24
162	Bahrain	49.25
163	Bangladesh	48.07
164	Guatemala	46.90
165	Mauritania	46.24
166	Sri Lanka	45.73
167	Somalia	43.82
168	Djibouti	43.46
169	India	41.77
170	Tunisia	40.85
171	Saudi Arabia	40.29
172	Tajikistan	39.26
173	Oman	34.01
174	Lebanon	33.32
175	Pakistan	30.01
176	Morocco	28.94
177	Palestine	26.26
178	Egypt	26.17
179	Jordan	25.66
180	Sudan	23.44
181	Algeria	21.30
182	Iran	20.84
183	Syria	20.71
184	Iraq	15.07
185	Yemen	7.62
186	Afghanistan	7.29

Analysis

This metric measures the ratio of female to male labor force participation rates, expressed as a percentage. A value of 100% indicates equal participation; values above 100% mean women participate at higher rates than men. The underlying labor force participation rate is, per the World Bank World Development Indicators (indicator SL.TLF.CACT.FM.ZS), the proportion of the population ages 15 and older that is economically active: all people who supply labor for the production of goods and services during a specified period. The ranking covers 186 countries, with 100% of data points classified as official-quality estimates and 97.3% of countries reporting data from the latest year (2025). The data spans a value range from 7.3% to 103.3%, a spread of over 1,316%.

The top of the ranking is led by sub-Saharan African nations and a handful of European countries. Burundi ranks 1st at 103.3%, the only country where the ratio exceeds 100%, followed by Moldova at 100.1% (rank 2) and Benin at 96.9% (rank 3). Togo (rank 4, 95.9%) and Mozambique (rank 5, 95.7%) round out the top five. Among high-income countries, Sweden places 21st at 91.0%, Norway 23rd at 89.9%, and Finland 25th at 89.7%. Australia ranks 32nd at 88.4% and the United States 66th at 84.0%. These placements reflect relatively narrow gaps between male and female participation rates, though the underlying causes vary across country contexts.

The middle of the ranking includes a diverse set of countries. Japan ranks 102nd at 78.2%, Italy 127th at 70.0%, and Colombia 131st at 68.2%. Notable placements in the lower third include Indonesia at rank 139 (65.3%), Malaysia at rank 141 (65.2%), and Bangladesh at rank 163 (48.1%). Qatar ranks 143rd at 64.7%, while the United Arab Emirates places 151st at 57.9% and Kuwait 156th at 53.3%. The bottom of the ranking is concentrated in the Middle East and North Africa: Jordan is 179th at 25.7%, Sudan 180th at 23.4%, Algeria 181st at 21.3%, Iran 182nd at 20.8%, Syria 183rd at 20.7%, Iraq 184th at 15.1%, and Yemen 185th at 7.6%, just above Afghanistan at 186th with 7.3%.

This metric has several limitations. The ratio reflects relative participation between sexes rather than absolute levels, so a country could rank high because male participation has fallen rather than because female participation is high. ILO modeled estimates are used where direct survey data is unavailable or inconsistent, which can introduce uncertainty, particularly for countries with limited statistical capacity. The viability check identified 14 extreme outliers at the 3-standard-deviation threshold, and the dataset's value range exceeds 1,316%, indicating substantial distributional spread. The metric does not capture informality, hours worked, job quality, or wage levels, and does not distinguish between voluntary and involuntary non-participation.

Methodology

Data are drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code SL.TLF.CACT.FM.ZS, for the reference year 2025. The metric is the ratio of female to male labor force participation rates, expressed as a percentage. Labor force participation rate is defined as the proportion of the population ages 15 and older that is economically active: all people who supply labor for the production of goods and services during a specified period. The ranking covers 186 countries, all above the 80-country coverage threshold. All 186 countries (100%) have data from within the last 7 years, and 100% of data points are classified as official-quality estimates, exceeding the 70% quality threshold. The latest reference year (2025) has data for 181 of 186 countries (97.3%). Values range from 7.3% (Afghanistan) to 103.3% (Burundi), a spread of 1,316.6%. The viability check flagged 14 extreme outliers at the 3-standard-deviation threshold, and the average year-over-year change is 1.4%, well below the 50% volatility threshold. No microstates (populations under 1 million) were excluded from the dataset.

Sources

World Bank