Countries by labor force participation rate, ages 15 and over

Qatar had the highest labor force participation rate, ages 15 and over of 185 countries in 2022, at 87.6%. São Tomé and Príncipe had the lowest, at 23.5%. The median was 61.5% and the figure for the World was 60.7%. Source: the World Bank.

Highest87.6Qatar

Lowest23.5São Tomé and Príncipe

Median61.5185 countries

World60.7History

Top 40 countries, 2022

%. Source: World Bank (modelled estimate), Labor force participation rate, total, % of total population ages 15+, modeled ILO estimate (SL.TLF.CACT.ZS). Retrieved 2026-10-11.

Full ranking

Rank	Countries	2022 (%)	Change on 2021
1	Qatar	87.6	+1.2 pts
2	Madagascar	85.4	+0.4 pts
3	Solomon Islands	84.3	+0.4 pts
4	Tanzania	83.8	0 pts
5	Cambodia	82.3	+2.8 pts
6	North Korea	82.1	+1.4 pts
7	Nigeria	81.3	+1.1 pts
8	Uganda	80	+0.7 pts
9	Niger	79.6	+3.1 pts
10	Burundi	79.1	0 pts
11	Mozambique	78.8	+0.7 pts
12	Eritrea	78.4	+0.4 pts
13	Bolivia	78.3	+0.5 pts
14	United Arab Emirates	77.2	+0.2 pts
15	Liberia	76.7	+0.3 pts
16	Benin	76.3	+0.2 pts
17	Angola	75.2	-1.1 pts
18	Vietnam	74.5	+0.7 pts
19	Peru	74.5	+2.5 pts
20	Iceland	74.5	+1.1 pts
21	Kuwait	74.4	+3.8 pts
22	Bahamas	74.2	+4.5 pts
23	South Sudan	73.5	0 pts
24	Central African Republic	73.4	+0.8 pts
25	Moldova	72.5	0 pts
26	Burkina Faso	72.3	-1.6 pts
27	New Zealand	70.9	+0.5 pts
28	Paraguay	70.6	-1.3 pts
29	Bahrain	70.3	+1.3 pts
30	Kazakhstan	70.2	+0.8 pts
31	Singapore	69.7	-1 pts
32	Saint Lucia	69.2	+3.7 pts
33	Ethiopia	68.5	+0.2 pts
34	Oman	68.3	+2.5 pts
35	Republic of the Congo	67.9	+2.4 pts
36	Jamaica	67.7	+2 pts
37	Cyprus	67.6	+1.1 pts
38	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	67.6	+0.8 pts
39	Kenya	67.5	0 pts
40	Mali	67.2	+0.5 pts
41	Netherlands	67.2	+0.7 pts
42	Thailand	67.2	+0.2 pts
43	Côte d’Ivoire	67.1	+0.9 pts
44	Switzerland	67.1	-0.7 pts
45	Indonesia	67	+1.2 pts
46	Australia	66.9	+0.7 pts
47	Macao	66.6	-2.3 pts
48	Timor-Leste	66.6	+0.1 pts
49	Panama	66.3	+3.5 pts
50	Malaysia	66.2	+0.6 pts
51	Laos	66	+1.4 pts
52	Norway	66	+0.3 pts
53	Ecuador	65.8	+0.1 pts
54	China	65.8	-1.3 pts
55	Nicaragua	65.6	+0.4 pts
56	Cameroon	65.6	+0.3 pts
57	Barbados	65.3	+3 pts
58	Canada	65.2	+0.1 pts
59	Zimbabwe	65.2	-0.2 pts
60	Estonia	65.1	+1.9 pts
61	Guinea-Bissau	64.8	+1.1 pts
62	Haiti	64.8	-0.9 pts
63	Azerbaijan	64.8	+1.1 pts
64	Israel	64.7	+1.4 pts
65	Botswana	64.6	+0.6 pts
66	Sweden	64.6	+0.4 pts
67	Ireland	64.4	+0.9 pts
68	Democratic Republic of the Congo	64.4	+0.7 pts
69	Brunei	64.1	+0.2 pts
70	Belarus	64	0 pts
71	Malta	64	+1.6 pts
72	Saudi Arabia	63.8	+0.3 pts
73	South Korea	63.8	+1.2 pts
74	Georgia	63.7	+2.7 pts
75	Brazil	63.5	+1.1 pts
76	Denmark	63.5	+0.8 pts
77	Maldives	63.4	+3.6 pts
78	Dominican Republic	63.2	0 pts
79	Uruguay	63.2	+0.3 pts
80	Colombia	63.2	-1.2 pts
81	Bhutan	63.1	-6 pts
82	Malawi	63.1	+0.1 pts
83	Lithuania	62.7	+0.4 pts
84	Mongolia	62.6	+1.4 pts
85	Japan	62.5	+0.4 pts
86	Guam	62.2	+2.5 pts
87	Albania	62.2	+2.5 pts
88	Russia	61.9	-0 pts
89	United Kingdom	61.9	-0.1 pts
90	Bangladesh	61.9	+0.8 pts
91	United States	61.8	+0.3 pts
92	Costa Rica	61.5	-0.3 pts
93	Argentina	61.5	+1.1 pts
94	Philippines	61.4	+5 pts
95	Slovakia	61.2	+1 pts
96	Equatorial Guinea	61.1	+3.5 pts
97	Mexico	60.9	+1 pts
98	Luxembourg	60.9	-0.5 pts
99	Latvia	60.9	+0.9 pts
100	Austria	60.9	+0.3 pts
101	Germany	60.8	+0.4 pts
102	Finland	60.4	+0.7 pts
103	Guatemala	60.2	-2.7 pts
104	Rwanda	60.2	+2 pts
105	Chile	60.1	+2.6 pts
106	El Salvador	60.1	+0.9 pts
107	Czechia	59.9	+0.4 pts
108	Hungary	59.9	+0.7 pts
109	Chad	59.8	+0.4 pts
110	Zambia	59.5	-0.6 pts
111	Kyrgyzstan	59.2	+0.2 pts
112	Ghana	59.1	-1.3 pts
113	Slovenia	59.1	+0.7 pts
114	Poland	58.9	+0.2 pts
115	Namibia	58.9	+2.4 pts
116	Armenia	58.8	-3.1 pts
117	Honduras	58.6	-2.1 pts
118	Vanuatu	58.4	+0.1 pts
119	Trinidad and Tobago	58.4	+0.7 pts
120	Belize	58.3	-2 pts
121	Togo	57.9	+0.2 pts
122	Hong Kong	57.9	-0.9 pts
123	Portugal	57.8	+1 pts
124	Uzbekistan	57.7	+1.7 pts
125	New Caledonia	57.6	+0.2 pts
126	Spain	57.6	+0.3 pts
127	Lesotho	57.5	+0.7 pts
128	Cape Verde	57.2	+3 pts
129	Fiji	57.1	+2.7 pts
130	Serbia	57.1	+0.9 pts
131	Bulgaria	56.7	+1.3 pts
132	France	55.8	+0.3 pts
133	Mauritius	55.6	+3 pts
134	Montenegro	55.5	+7.4 pts
135	Comoros	55.5	+0.3 pts
136	Myanmar	55.2	0 pts
137	Belgium	54.6	+0.5 pts
138	U.S. Virgin Islands	54.5	+1 pts
139	Guyana	54	+2.8 pts
140	French Polynesia	54	-0.3 pts
141	Cuba	53.7	+0.9 pts
142	Sierra Leone	53.7	+0.1 pts
143	India	53.6	+1.1 pts
144	South Africa	53.5	+1.5 pts
145	Suriname	53.4	+0.2 pts
146	Türkiye	53.1	+1.7 pts
147	North Macedonia	52.9	+1.3 pts
148	Guinea	52.8	+0.2 pts
149	Romania	52.6	+0.2 pts
150	Croatia	52.5	+0.5 pts
151	Pakistan	52.4	-0.3 pts
152	Papua New Guinea	52	+0.3 pts
153	Senegal	51.9	+0.3 pts
154	Greece	51.8	+1.5 pts
155	Gabon	51.6	+3.1 pts
156	Tonga	51.4	-0.6 pts
157	Venezuela	50.9	+2.3 pts
158	Eswatini	50.4	+0.7 pts
159	Sri Lanka	49.7	-0.1 pts
160	Italy	49	+0.6 pts
161	Bosnia and Herzegovina	48.8	+1.1 pts
162	Libya	48.7	+3.3 pts
163	Gambia	47.6	-0 pts
164	Tunisia	46.4	+1.2 pts
165	Palestine	45	+1.6 pts
166	Morocco	44.3	-1 pts
167	Samoa	43.7	-1.9 pts
168	Lebanon	43.4	-2.1 pts
169	Egypt	42.8	-0.1 pts
170	Turkmenistan	42.2	+0.5 pts
171	Puerto Rico	41.8	+0.5 pts
172	Algeria	41.8	+3.4 pts
173	Iraq	41.5	+1.8 pts
174	Mauritania	40.9	+0.2 pts
175	Iran	40.6	-0.5 pts
176	Nepal	39.4	-0.1 pts
177	Jordan	38.6	-0.1 pts
178	Tajikistan	37.8	+0.8 pts
179	Afghanistan	37.6	-3 pts
180	Sudan	37.5	-0.8 pts
181	Syria	37.3	+1 pts
182	Somalia	33.9	+0.2 pts
183	Yemen	33	+0.7 pts
184	Djibouti	31.8	0 pts
185	São Tomé and Príncipe	23.5	+0.2 pts

Other periods

About this ranking

The labor force, comprising employed and unemployed people, as a percentage of the population aged 15 and over. ILO modelled estimates published by the World Bank, annual.

A separate series from labor_force_participation_rate, which is the US civilian series for ages 16 and over from the Current Population Survey. This one covers ages 15 and over for countries and the World.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the countries are compared on one definition. 1 countries with data in other periods have no value for 2022 and are left out rather than filled from another source. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

World Bank, World Development Indicators, modelled estimate. Labor force participation rate, total, % of total population ages 15+, modeled ILO estimate (SL.TLF.CACT.ZS). https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.CACT.ZS. Retrieved 2026-10-11.

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Rank Countries by labor force participation rate, ages 15 and over using official data, and cite the source.

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Questions

Which country has the highest labor force participation rate, ages 15 and over?

Qatar, with 87.6% in 2022, according to the World Bank.

Which country has the lowest labor force participation rate, ages 15 and over?

São Tomé and Príncipe, with 23.5% in 2022.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: World Bank, Labor force participation rate, total, % of total population ages 15+, modeled ILO estimate (SL.TLF.CACT.ZS). Retrieved 2026-10-11. 1 countries have no value for 2022 and are not ranked.

Labor force participation rate, ages 15 and over: other rankings

EU countries