Women in the workforce

Share of women over 15 working or looking for work.

measured by: World Bank
originally from: International Labour Organization, ILO modelled estimates
years covered: 1990–2025
subject: Society

Neither end of this scale is better. It is context, not a score.

How this is measured

ILO modelled estimates of the share of women aged 15 and over who are economically active. Neutral on purpose: the figure is high in the poorest countries, where subsistence agriculture counts, falls as they industrialise, and rises again with services — so a higher number is not straightforwardly a better one.

Highest first for 2025

163 countries and territories have a figure for 2025. This is the most recent year the series covers well; the viewer holds every year from 1990.

#	Country	Region	Female workforce
1	Madagascar	Sub-Saharan Africa	82.9%
2	Solomon Islands	Asia-Pacific	82.3%
3	Nigeria	Sub-Saharan Africa	80.7%
4	Tanzania	Sub-Saharan Africa	80.3%
5	Burundi	Sub-Saharan Africa	79.5%
6	North Korea	Asia-Pacific	77.7%
7	Cambodia	Asia-Pacific	77.4%
8	Mozambique	Sub-Saharan Africa	77.1%
9	Uganda	Sub-Saharan Africa	75.6%
10	Benin	Sub-Saharan Africa	75.2%
11	Bolivia	Americas	72.9%
12	Eritrea	Sub-Saharan Africa	72.8%
13	Niger	Sub-Saharan Africa	72.8%
14	Moldova	Eurasia	72.3%
15	Angola	Sub-Saharan Africa	72.2%
16	Liberia	Sub-Saharan Africa	72.0%
17	Bahamas	Americas	70.7%
18	Iceland	Europe	70.0%
19	Vietnam	Asia-Pacific	68.6%
20	New Zealand	Asia-Pacific	66.1%
21	Congo	Sub-Saharan Africa	65.6%
22	Central African Republic	Sub-Saharan Africa	65.5%
23	Peru	Americas	65.0%
24	Burkina Faso	Sub-Saharan Africa	64.1%
25	Botswana	Sub-Saharan Africa	63.7%
26	Kenya	Sub-Saharan Africa	63.0%
27	Jamaica	Americas	63.0%
28	Netherlands	Europe	62.7%
29	Kazakhstan	Eurasia	62.6%
30	Australia	Asia-Pacific	62.5%
31	Israel	Middle East & North Africa	62.3%
32	Switzerland	Europe	62.2%
33	Zimbabwe	Sub-Saharan Africa	62.2%
34	Norway	Europe	62.1%
35	Qatar	Middle East & North Africa	61.9%
36	Democratic Republic of the Congo	Sub-Saharan Africa	61.8%
37	Timor-Leste	Asia-Pacific	61.7%
38	Laos	Asia-Pacific	61.6%
39	Sweden	Europe	61.5%
40	Cyprus	Europe	61.2%
41	Estonia	Europe	61.0%
42	Denmark	Europe	60.8%
43	Azerbaijan	Eurasia	60.8%
44	Guinea-Bissau	Sub-Saharan Africa	60.3%
45	Canada	Americas	60.2%
46	Ireland	Europe	59.8%
47	Côte d'Ivoire	Sub-Saharan Africa	59.5%
48	China	Asia-Pacific	59.1%
49	Paraguay	Americas	59.0%
50	Thailand	Asia-Pacific	59.0%
51	Albania	Europe	58.6%
52	Ethiopia	Sub-Saharan Africa	58.5%
53	Haiti	Americas	58.3%
54	Malawi	Sub-Saharan Africa	58.2%
55	Lithuania	Europe	57.7%
56	Luxembourg	Europe	57.5%
57	United Kingdom	Europe	57.3%
58	Rwanda	Sub-Saharan Africa	57.3%
59	Uruguay	Americas	57.3%
60	South Korea	Asia-Pacific	56.8%
61	Belarus	Eurasia	56.8%
62	Bhutan	Asia-Pacific	56.7%
63	Georgia	Eurasia	56.7%
64	Togo	Sub-Saharan Africa	56.6%
65	Cameroon	Sub-Saharan Africa	56.6%
66	Finland	Europe	56.5%
67	Zambia	Sub-Saharan Africa	56.4%
68	United States	Americas	56.3%
69	Japan	Asia-Pacific	55.9%
70	Germany	Europe	55.3%
71	Ghana	Sub-Saharan Africa	55.3%
72	Latvia	Europe	55.2%
73	Slovakia	Europe	55.1%
74	Austria	Europe	55.1%
75	Panama	Americas	54.9%
76	Namibia	Sub-Saharan Africa	54.9%
77	Portugal	Europe	54.6%
78	Russia	Eurasia	54.5%
79	Brunei	Asia-Pacific	54.4%
80	Hungary	Europe	54.3%
81	Indonesia	Asia-Pacific	53.7%
82	Dominican Republic	Americas	53.7%
83	Czechia	Europe	53.5%
84	Brazil	Americas	53.4%
85	Vanuatu	Asia-Pacific	53.3%
86	United Arab Emirates	Middle East & North Africa	53.0%
87	Chile	Americas	52.9%
88	Mali	Sub-Saharan Africa	52.8%
89	Spain	Europe	52.8%
90	Serbia	Europe	52.6%
91	Equatorial Guinea	Sub-Saharan Africa	52.6%
92	Argentina	Americas	52.5%
93	Ecuador	Americas	52.4%
94	Slovenia	Europe	52.3%
95	Malaysia	Asia-Pacific	51.6%
96	Colombia	Americas	51.6%
97	Poland	Europe	51.6%
98	Sierra Leone	Sub-Saharan Africa	51.6%
99	France	Europe	51.5%
100	Mongolia	Asia-Pacific	51.5%
101	Nicaragua	Americas	51.3%
102	Montenegro	Europe	51.2%
103	New Caledonia	Asia-Pacific	51.1%
104	Armenia	Eurasia	51.1%
105	Papua New Guinea	Asia-Pacific	50.8%
106	Philippines	Asia-Pacific	50.5%
107	Bulgaria	Europe	50.4%
108	South Africa	Sub-Saharan Africa	49.9%
109	Belgium	Europe	49.8%
110	El Salvador	Americas	49.1%
111	Eswatini	Sub-Saharan Africa	48.5%
112	Lesotho	Sub-Saharan Africa	48.1%
113	Trinidad and Tobago	Americas	47.8%
114	Mexico	Americas	47.5%
115	Croatia	Europe	47.4%
116	Guyana	Americas	47.4%
117	Chad	Sub-Saharan Africa	47.3%
118	Kuwait	Middle East & North Africa	47.2%
119	Belize	Americas	46.5%
120	Costa Rica	Americas	46.0%
121	Gambia	Sub-Saharan Africa	45.5%
122	Suriname	Americas	44.9%
123	Greece	Europe	44.7%
124	Kyrgyzstan	Eurasia	44.1%
125	North Macedonia	Europe	42.7%
126	Guinea	Sub-Saharan Africa	42.6%
127	Romania	Europe	41.8%
128	Gabon	Sub-Saharan Africa	41.6%
129	Uzbekistan	Eurasia	41.2%
130	Myanmar	Asia-Pacific	40.9%
131	Italy	Europe	40.8%
132	Cuba	Americas	40.0%
133	Honduras	Americas	39.6%
134	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Europe	39.2%
135	Bangladesh	Asia-Pacific	38.6%
136	Fiji	Asia-Pacific	38.5%
137	Guatemala	Americas	38.3%
138	Turkmenistan	Eurasia	38.2%
139	Senegal	Sub-Saharan Africa	38.2%
140	Turkey	Eurasia	37.1%
141	Venezuela	Americas	37.1%
142	Puerto Rico	Americas	36.9%
143	Saudi Arabia	Middle East & North Africa	33.6%
144	Libya	Middle East & North Africa	33.0%
145	India	Asia-Pacific	32.4%
146	Sri Lanka	Asia-Pacific	31.0%
147	Oman	Middle East & North Africa	30.0%
148	Nepal	Asia-Pacific	27.5%
149	Tunisia	Middle East & North Africa	26.5%
150	Mauritania	Sub-Saharan Africa	26.2%
151	Pakistan	Asia-Pacific	24.0%
152	Tajikistan	Eurasia	21.9%
153	Somalia	Sub-Saharan Africa	20.7%
154	Morocco	Middle East & North Africa	19.7%
155	Djibouti	Sub-Saharan Africa	19.4%
156	Egypt	Middle East & North Africa	18.5%
157	Jordan	Middle East & North Africa	16.0%
158	Algeria	Middle East & North Africa	14.1%
159	Iran	Middle East & North Africa	14.0%
160	Syria	Middle East & North Africa	12.7%
161	Iraq	Middle East & North Africa	10.9%
162	Afghanistan	Asia-Pacific	5.1%
163	Yemen	Middle East & North Africa	4.7%

Data by year

Show 36 yearly JSON rankings

Follow a year link to open the complete world ranking, including country names, values, positions, source and licence.

Source and licence

World Bank — World Development Indicators

CC BY 4.0. World Bank, World Development Indicators How every source was checked

Other society statistics

Human Development Index Life expectancy Adult literacy Secondary school enrolment Government spending on education Health spending Health costs paid out of pocket Maternal mortality Women in parliament Fertility rate Urban population Refugees who left Population