Countries by Self-employed, female (% of female employment) (modeled ILO estimate)

Ranking 2025

Values shown in %.

Analysis

This metric measures self-employed women as a percentage of total female employment, using modeled estimates from the International Labour Organization. According to the source definition, self-employed workers are those who, working on their own account or with one or a few partners or in cooperative, hold the type of jobs defined as self-employment jobs, i.e. jobs where the remuneration is directly dependent upon the profits derived from the goods and services produced; self-employed workers include sub-categories of employers, own-account workers and members of producer cooperatives. The unit is percentage of female employment. Data are modeled ILO estimates drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators (indicator code SL.EMP.SELF.FE.ZS). The dataset covers 186 countries, with 100% of datapoints classified as official-quality and 97.3% of countries reporting in the latest year (2025). No extreme outliers were identified using a three-standard-deviation threshold, and average year-over-year volatility is low at 2.5%.

The top of the ranking is dominated by sub-Saharan African and South Asian economies. Chad leads at 96.75% (rank 1), followed by Niger at 95.42% (rank 2), Sierra Leone at 94.77% (rank 3), and Afghanistan at 93.51% (rank 4). Every country in the top 15 exceeds 88%, and all are located in sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia, with the exception of Afghanistan. Mozambique (rank 5, 91.33%), Nepal (rank 6, 90.83%), Liberia (rank 7, 90.70%), and Tanzania (rank 10, 90.58%) round out the upper tier. In these economies, the overwhelming majority of working women are engaged in own-account or informal trade, agriculture, and petty commerce rather than formal wage employment.

The middle of the ranking covers a wide range of regions and income levels. India sits at rank 34 with 78.85%, placing it in the upper third of the global distribution. Bolivia ranks 43rd at 69.66%, and Thailand ranks 63rd at 49.77%, showing that female self-employment rates above 40-50% are not limited to the lowest-income countries. Notably, Nepal (rank 6, 90.83%) ranks higher than neighboring India (rank 34, 78.85%) despite similar regional contexts. Azerbaijan ranks 42nd at 71.63%, considerably higher than fellow post-Soviet states such as Russia (rank 177, 5.56%) and Belarus (rank 171, 6.66%), illustrating that geographic region alone does not determine placement. At the lower end, high-income Gulf states cluster near the bottom: Saudi Arabia ranks 170th at 6.79%, Oman 173rd at 6.43%, the United Arab Emirates 178th at 5.20%, Kuwait 185th at 1.38%, and Qatar last at 1.24%.

Several limitations apply to this metric. Because the data are modeled ILO estimates rather than direct survey results, figures for countries with infrequent or low-quality labor force surveys may carry greater uncertainty. Self-employment as defined here encompasses a wide spectrum, from subsistence farmers and informal market traders to cooperative members and small employers, which means high rates do not distinguish between necessity-driven informal work and voluntary entrepreneurship. The metric also does not capture earnings, hours worked, or working conditions. Countries with large agricultural sectors or high levels of informal economic activity may show elevated rates regardless of women's economic empowerment. Additionally, modeled estimates may smooth over short-term disruptions in female labor markets that would appear in direct survey data.

Methodology

Metric: Self-employed, female (% of female employment), modeled ILO estimate. Indicator code: SL.EMP.SELF.FE.ZS. Data source: World Bank World Development Indicators. Data year: 2025. The definition used is: self-employed workers are those workers who, working on their own account or with one or a few partners or in cooperative, hold the type of jobs defined as self-employment jobs, i.e. jobs where the remuneration is directly dependent upon the profits derived from the goods and services produced; self-employed workers include sub-categories of employers, own-account workers and members of producer cooperatives. Coverage: 186 countries, meeting the minimum threshold of 80. Data quality: 100% of datapoints are classified as official. Recency: 186 of 186 countries (100%) have data from the last seven years. Consistency: 181 of 186 countries (97.3%) report in the latest year. No extreme outliers were detected at the three-standard-deviation threshold. Average year-over-year change is 2.5%, well below the 50% volatility threshold. The value range spans 1.24% (Qatar) to 96.75% (Chad), a spread of 7,680.9%.

Sources

• World Bank