Countries by Unemployment, total (% of total labor force) (modeled ILO estimate)
Eswatini records the highest unemployment rate in this 186-country ranking at 34.202%, meaning more than one in three labor force participants are without work but actively seeking it. At the opposite end, Qatar posts a rate of just 0.130%, a gap of more than 34 percentage points. That spread — covering 186 countries across every income level and region — illustrates how unevenly labor market conditions are distributed globally.
Ranking 2025
Values shown in %.
Analysis
This metric measures unemployment as a percentage of the total labor force, using modeled International Labour Organization estimates drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators (indicator code SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS). The source definition states: unemployment refers to the share of the labor force that is without work but available for and seeking employment. Values are expressed as a percentage. The dataset covers 186 countries for the 2025 data year, with 100% of countries having data from within the last seven years and 100% of datapoints rated as official quality. The ranking shows 35 extreme outliers flagged at a 3-standard-deviation threshold, and the raw range runs from 0.130% to 34.202%, a spread of over 26,000%.
The top of the ranking is dominated by sub-Saharan African and Middle Eastern economies. Eswatini ranks 1st at 34.202%, followed by South Africa at 32.391% (rank 2) and Djibouti at 26.015% (rank 3). Botswana ranks 4th at 24.477% and West Bank and Gaza 5th at 24.420%. Gabon (rank 6, 20.154%), Congo Rep. (rank 7, 19.876%), and Namibia (rank 8, 19.291%) also sit well above the global norm. Libya (rank 10, 18.758%) and Yemen (rank 12, 17.322%) represent economies with elevated unemployment amid ongoing instability as reflected in the data.
The middle of the ranking includes several high-income European economies. Spain ranks 37th at 10.376%, Sweden 48th at 8.694%, and France 57th at 7.542%. The United States ranks 117th at 4.198%, sitting between India (rank 116, 4.219%) and Australia (rank 118, 4.090%). A notable anomaly: Russia ranks 169th at 2.133%, lower than Japan at rank 163 with 2.451%, and Korea, Rep. at rank 158 with 2.683%. At the very bottom, Cambodia ranks 185th at 0.263% and Qatar last at 0.130%, indicating near-full labor force employment by this measure. Guinea-Bissau and Mexico share rank 159 with identical values of 2.673%.
This metric carries important limitations. Modeled ILO estimates use statistical techniques to fill gaps where direct survey data is unavailable or inconsistent, which can reduce comparability across countries. The definition counts only those without work who are actively seeking employment, meaning discouraged workers who have stopped looking are excluded. Informal employment is not captured, which is particularly significant in lower-income economies where informal labor is widespread. Countries with large informal sectors may therefore show deceptively low unemployment rates. Differences in survey methodology, reference periods, and labor force definitions across countries can also affect cross-country comparisons even within a harmonized dataset.
Methodology
Data is sourced from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS, for the data year 2025. The metric is defined using modeled International Labour Organization estimates. Per the source note: unemployment refers to the share of the labor force that is without work but available for and seeking employment. The ranking covers 186 countries, all of which have data from within the last seven years (100% recency) and all datapoints are classified as official quality (100%). The dataset flags 35 extreme outliers at a 3-standard-deviation threshold. Average year-over-year change across the dataset is 9.9%, within the 50% volatility threshold. The value range spans 0.130% (Qatar) to 34.202% (Eswatini), representing a 26,209% spread. 181 of 186 countries (97.3%) report data for the latest year. No microstates below one million population are included in this dataset.