Unemployment

Share of the labour force without work and looking for it.

measured by: World Bank
originally from: International Labour Organization, ILO modelled estimates
years covered: 1991–2025
subject: Economic

Higher is generally taken as worse.

How this is measured

ILO modelled estimates, on the standard definition: without work, available for work, and actively seeking it. That last condition matters — people who have given up looking are not counted, so unemployment can fall because hope did. Where most work is informal the figure measures very little.

Ranked 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 1991.

#	Country	Region	Unemployment
1	Qatar	Middle East & North Africa	0.1%
2	Cambodia	Asia-Pacific	0.3%
3	Niger	Sub-Saharan Africa	0.4%
4	Thailand	Asia-Pacific	0.8%
5	Burundi	Sub-Saharan Africa	0.9%
6	Chad	Sub-Saharan Africa	1.1%
7	Laos	Asia-Pacific	1.2%
8	Solomon Islands	Asia-Pacific	1.4%
9	Moldova	Eurasia	1.5%
10	Vietnam	Asia-Pacific	1.5%
11	Tanzania	Sub-Saharan Africa	1.6%
12	Benin	Sub-Saharan Africa	1.6%
13	Timor-Leste	Asia-Pacific	1.6%
14	Cuba	Americas	1.7%
15	Togo	Sub-Saharan Africa	2.0%
16	Russia	Eurasia	2.1%
17	United Arab Emirates	Middle East & North Africa	2.2%
18	Kuwait	Middle East & North Africa	2.2%
19	Philippines	Asia-Pacific	2.2%
20	Côte d'Ivoire	Sub-Saharan Africa	2.3%
21	Japan	Asia-Pacific	2.5%
22	Papua New Guinea	Asia-Pacific	2.6%
23	Guatemala	Americas	2.6%
24	Guinea-Bissau	Sub-Saharan Africa	2.7%
25	Mexico	Americas	2.7%
26	South Korea	Asia-Pacific	2.7%
27	Senegal	Sub-Saharan Africa	2.7%
28	Uganda	Sub-Saharan Africa	2.7%
29	Czechia	Europe	2.8%
30	Mali	Sub-Saharan Africa	2.8%
31	Liberia	Sub-Saharan Africa	2.9%
32	Bolivia	Americas	3.0%
33	Poland	Europe	3.0%
34	Ghana	Sub-Saharan Africa	3.0%
35	Saudi Arabia	Middle East & North Africa	3.0%
36	Madagascar	Sub-Saharan Africa	3.0%
37	Myanmar	Asia-Pacific	3.0%
38	Nigeria	Sub-Saharan Africa	3.1%
39	Sierra Leone	Sub-Saharan Africa	3.2%
40	Slovenia	Europe	3.2%
41	Bhutan	Asia-Pacific	3.2%
42	Indonesia	Asia-Pacific	3.2%
43	Oman	Middle East & North Africa	3.3%
44	Jamaica	Americas	3.3%
45	El Salvador	Americas	3.3%
46	Ecuador	Americas	3.3%
47	Ethiopia	Sub-Saharan Africa	3.3%
48	Trinidad and Tobago	Americas	3.3%
49	Belarus	Eurasia	3.4%
50	Burkina Faso	Sub-Saharan Africa	3.5%
51	Israel	Middle East & North Africa	3.5%
52	Kyrgyzstan	Eurasia	3.5%
53	Bulgaria	Europe	3.5%
54	North Korea	Asia-Pacific	3.5%
55	Cameroon	Sub-Saharan Africa	3.6%
56	Iceland	Europe	3.6%
57	Germany	Europe	3.7%
58	Malaysia	Asia-Pacific	3.8%
59	Bangladesh	Asia-Pacific	3.8%
60	Netherlands	Europe	3.9%
61	Sri Lanka	Asia-Pacific	4.0%
62	Australia	Asia-Pacific	4.1%
63	United States	Americas	4.2%
64	India	Asia-Pacific	4.2%
65	Turkmenistan	Eurasia	4.3%
66	Democratic Republic of the Congo	Sub-Saharan Africa	4.4%
67	Hungary	Europe	4.5%
68	China	Asia-Pacific	4.6%
69	Uzbekistan	Eurasia	4.6%
70	Ireland	Europe	4.6%
71	Norway	Europe	4.6%
72	United Kingdom	Europe	4.7%
73	Kazakhstan	Eurasia	4.8%
74	Paraguay	Americas	4.8%
75	Switzerland	Europe	4.9%
76	Honduras	Americas	4.9%
77	Cyprus	Europe	4.9%
78	Croatia	Europe	5.0%
79	Nicaragua	Americas	5.0%
80	Malawi	Sub-Saharan Africa	5.1%
81	Vanuatu	Asia-Pacific	5.1%
82	New Zealand	Asia-Pacific	5.1%
83	Dominican Republic	Americas	5.1%
84	Peru	Americas	5.1%
85	Guinea	Sub-Saharan Africa	5.2%
86	Mongolia	Asia-Pacific	5.2%
87	Brunei	Asia-Pacific	5.3%
88	Venezuela	Americas	5.3%
89	Fiji	Asia-Pacific	5.3%
90	Slovakia	Europe	5.4%
91	Pakistan	Asia-Pacific	5.4%
92	Kenya	Sub-Saharan Africa	5.4%
93	Azerbaijan	Eurasia	5.5%
94	Denmark	Europe	5.5%
95	Austria	Europe	5.6%
96	Belgium	Europe	5.9%
97	Zambia	Sub-Saharan Africa	5.9%
98	Brazil	Americas	6.0%
99	Eritrea	Sub-Saharan Africa	6.0%
100	Puerto Rico	Americas	6.0%
101	Romania	Europe	6.0%
102	Portugal	Europe	6.2%
103	Central African Republic	Sub-Saharan Africa	6.3%
104	Luxembourg	Europe	6.3%
105	Italy	Europe	6.4%
106	Gambia	Sub-Saharan Africa	6.5%
107	Latvia	Europe	6.6%
108	Mozambique	Sub-Saharan Africa	6.6%
109	Lithuania	Europe	6.7%
110	Egypt	Middle East & North Africa	6.8%
111	Costa Rica	Americas	6.8%
112	Canada	Americas	6.9%
113	Tajikistan	Eurasia	6.9%
114	Serbia	Europe	7.1%
115	Argentina	Americas	7.1%
116	Uruguay	Americas	7.5%
117	France	Europe	7.5%
118	Suriname	Americas	7.8%
119	Colombia	Americas	8.3%
120	Iran	Middle East & North Africa	8.3%
121	Estonia	Europe	8.3%
122	Equatorial Guinea	Sub-Saharan Africa	8.3%
123	Panama	Americas	8.4%
124	Turkey	Eurasia	8.5%
125	Greece	Europe	8.5%
126	Sweden	Europe	8.7%
127	Belize	Americas	8.9%
128	Chile	Americas	9.0%
129	Morocco	Middle East & North Africa	9.0%
130	Bahamas	Americas	9.2%
131	Zimbabwe	Sub-Saharan Africa	9.3%
132	Finland	Europe	9.5%
133	Mauritania	Sub-Saharan Africa	10.3%
134	Spain	Europe	10.4%
135	Nepal	Asia-Pacific	10.5%
136	Albania	Europe	10.9%
137	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Europe	11.0%
138	New Caledonia	Asia-Pacific	11.2%
139	Rwanda	Sub-Saharan Africa	11.4%
140	Algeria	Middle East & North Africa	11.6%
141	Guyana	Americas	12.0%
142	Georgia	Eurasia	12.1%
143	North Macedonia	Europe	12.3%
144	Armenia	Eurasia	12.9%
145	Afghanistan	Asia-Pacific	13.4%
146	Syria	Middle East & North Africa	13.6%
147	Montenegro	Europe	13.6%
148	Angola	Sub-Saharan Africa	14.1%
149	Haiti	Americas	14.9%
150	Tunisia	Middle East & North Africa	15.1%
151	Iraq	Middle East & North Africa	15.5%
152	Lesotho	Sub-Saharan Africa	16.3%
153	Jordan	Middle East & North Africa	16.5%
154	Yemen	Middle East & North Africa	17.3%
155	Libya	Middle East & North Africa	18.8%
156	Somalia	Sub-Saharan Africa	18.9%
157	Namibia	Sub-Saharan Africa	19.3%
158	Congo	Sub-Saharan Africa	19.9%
159	Gabon	Sub-Saharan Africa	20.2%
160	Botswana	Sub-Saharan Africa	24.5%
161	Djibouti	Sub-Saharan Africa	26.0%
162	South Africa	Sub-Saharan Africa	32.4%
163	Eswatini	Sub-Saharan Africa	34.2%

Data by year

Show 35 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 economic statistics

Trade openness Tax revenue as a share of GDP Government spending as a share of GDP Foreign investment inflows Regulatory quality GDP per capita GDP growth Inflation Income inequality Extreme poverty Government debt