Countries by Services, value added per worker (constant 2015 US$)

Ranking 2024

Analysis

This metric measures the economic output generated by each worker employed in services industries, expressed in constant 2015 US dollars to allow comparison across time and countries. According to the World Bank World Development Indicators (indicator code NV.SRV.EMPL.KD), services industries correspond to ISIC (Rev. 4) divisions 45-99 and includes wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles, hotels and restaurants, transport, storage and communication, financial intermediation, real estate, renting and business activities, public administration and defence, compulsory social security, education, health and social work, other community, social and personal services. The dataset covers 180 countries, with 96.1% of entries drawing on data from the last seven years and 100% of datapoints classified as official-quality. The ranking contains 29 extreme outliers identified at the 3-sigma threshold, and values range from $1,090 to $187,154, a spread of over 17,000%.

The top of the ranking is dominated by Western European economies and a handful of high-income territories. Luxembourg (rank 1, $187,154), Switzerland (rank 2, $148,328), and Ireland (rank 3, $137,198) lead by a substantial margin. The United States (rank 4, $116,155), Macao SAR China (rank 5, $113,678), and Norway (rank 6, $108,391) round out the top six. Australia (rank 7, $106,831), Hong Kong SAR China (rank 8, $95,493), Belgium (rank 9, $93,919), and Singapore (rank 10, $92,151) complete the top ten. These countries share characteristics such as high-value financial and business services sectors and relatively smaller agricultural and manufacturing workforces, which concentrates measured output among services workers.

The middle of the ranking spans a broad range. China ranks 58th at $30,133, placing it ahead of Maldives (rank 59, $26,910) and Chile (rank 60, $26,814). Notably, Samoa ranks 61st at $25,018, ahead of larger economies including Malaysia (rank 70, $21,024) and Russia (rank 77, $18,932). At the lower end, Ukraine ranks 145th at $4,795, falling below countries such as Sudan (rank 146, $4,766) and Cameroon (rank 147, $4,743). The bottom five are Madagascar (rank 177, $2,167), Congo Dem. Rep. (rank 178, $1,927), Central African Republic (rank 179, $1,844), and Liberia (rank 180, $1,090). Bolivia ranks 141st at $5,100, below Nicaragua (rank 150, $4,575) by a relatively narrow margin despite geographic and income-level differences.

Several limitations apply to this metric. Value added per worker is a ratio that reflects both output and employment counts; countries with large informal services sectors may undercount workers or underreport output, distorting the figure in either direction. The metric does not distinguish between high-wage and low-wage services sub-sectors, so a country dominated by financial services will rank higher than one where services employment is concentrated in retail or domestic work. Data recency varies: 7 of 180 countries have data older than seven years, and 21 of 180 countries lack a value for the most recent reference year of 2024, meaning some figures are projected or interpolated. Territorial units such as Macao SAR China (rank 5) and Puerto Rico (rank 29) are included alongside sovereign states, which affects direct country-to-country comparisons.

Methodology

Data is sourced from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code NV.SRV.EMPL.KD, reporting services value added per worker in constant 2015 US dollars. The definition used is: services industries correspond to ISIC (Rev. 4) divisions 45-99 and includes wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles, hotels and restaurants, transport, storage and communication, financial intermediation, real estate, renting and business activities, public administration and defence, compulsory social security, education, health and social work, other community, social and personal services. The ranking covers 180 countries. Of these, 173 (96.1%) have data from within the last seven years, and 159 (88.3%) have data for the latest reference year 2024. All 180 datapoints (100%) are classified as official quality. The viability check identified 29 extreme outliers at the 3-sigma threshold. The value range runs from $1,090.38 (Liberia) to $187,154.39 (Luxembourg), a spread of 17,064%. Average year-over-year change across the dataset is 3.5%, well within the 50% volatility threshold. No microstates under 1 million population are present in the 180-country set.

Sources

• World Bank