Data for 1997

Female Labour Force Participation Rate, 1997

Name: Female Labour Force Participation Rate, 1997
Creator: International Labour Organization (ILO)
License: https://www.ilo.org/rights-and-permissions

1997, as ILO’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Female Labour Force Participation Rate, 1997 covers 187 countries. Mozambique is highest, at 87.035; Iraq is lowest, at 8.850. The middle country reads 49.826. Against 1996, 187 values changed (119 up, 68 down), the same countries are covered.

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Female Labour Force Participation Rate · Data for 1997

HighestMozambique

87.035

LowestIraq

8.850

Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the better end.

187countries
1measure
1997the year it describes
187distinct values3 decimals, as published
Sep 6, 2026read from the publisher
CC BY 4.0licence

01Position · derived

The table

Every country and every column of Female Labour Force Participation Rate, 1997, as published. ILO ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. “=” marks a shared position.

Search this table

Showing 25 of 187 countries · select a heading to sort

Female Labour Force Participation Rate, 1997: every country, as published by International Labour Organization (ILO).
derived
1	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	87.035
2	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	85.850
3	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	84.301
4	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	83.828
5	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	81.262
6	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	78.936
7	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	78.102
8	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	78.042
9	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	78.036
10	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	77.729
11	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	77.624
12	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	75.434
13	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	74.902
14	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	74.691
15	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	74.271
16	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	73.755
17	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	72.532
18	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	71.718
19	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	71.447
20	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	71.202
21	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	71.029
22	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	70.325
23	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	70.248
24	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	69.518
25	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	69.293
26	Niger`NER`Western Africa	69.141
27	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	67.743
28	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	67.634
29	Bahamas`BHS`Caribbean	67.244
30	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	67.104
31	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	66.588
32	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	66.053
33	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	65.693
34	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	65.599
35	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	64.822
36	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	63.145
37	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	63.033
38	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	62.058
39	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	60.913
40	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	60.544
41	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	60.437
42	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	60.232
43	Guam`GUM`Micronesia	59.906
44	New Caledonia`NCL`Melanesia	59.821
45	Bolivia`BOL`South America	59.450
46	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	59.439
47	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	59.126
48	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	58.604
49	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	58.592
50	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	58.543
51	United States`USA`Northern America	58.400
52	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	57.658
53	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	57.310
54	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	57.214
55	Canada`CAN`Northern America	57.086
56	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	56.954
57	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	56.924
58	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	56.404
59	United States Virgin Islands`VIR`Caribbean	56.352
60	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	56.000
61	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	55.386
62	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	55.150
63	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	54.859
64	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	54.854
65	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	54.822
66	Macau`MAC`Eastern Asia	54.518
67	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	54.270
68	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	54.208
69	Peru`PER`South America	54.186
70	Colombia`COL`South America	54.144
71	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	53.856
72	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	53.660
73	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	53.335
74	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	53.105
75	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	52.676
76	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	52.660
77	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	52.538
78	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	52.499
79	Paraguay`PRY`South America	52.407
80	Brunei`BRN`South-eastern Asia	52.222
81	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	52.117
82	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	51.891
83	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	51.856
84	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	51.819
85	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	51.710
86	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	51.403
87	Saint Lucia`LCA`Caribbean	51.375
88	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	51.096
89	Argentina`ARG`South America	50.698
90	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	50.610
91	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	50.474
92	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	50.318
93	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	49.829
94	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	49.826
95	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	49.805
96	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	49.179
97	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	49.057
98	Venezuela`VEN`South America	48.743
99	Brazil`BRA`South America	48.677
100	Ecuador`ECU`South America	48.535
101	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	48.489
102	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	48.358
103	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	48.341
104	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	48.309
105	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	48.253
106	Uruguay`URY`South America	48.165
107	French Polynesia`PYF`Polynesia	48.155
108	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	47.858
109	France`FRA`Western Europe	47.736
110	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	47.491
111	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	47.392
112	Channel Islands`CHI`Northern Europe	47.366
113	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	47.204
114	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	46.878
115	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines`VCT`Caribbean	46.862
116	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	46.705
117	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	45.934
118	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	45.476
119	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	45.177
120	Honduras`HND`Central America	45.129
121	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	44.959
122	Tonga`TON`Polynesia	44.894
123	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	44.870
124	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	44.449
125	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	44.363
126	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	43.687
127	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	43.605
128	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	43.017
129	Samoa`WSM`Polynesia	42.630
130	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	42.493
131	Panama`PAN`Central America	42.378
132	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	41.873
133	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	41.852
134	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	41.528
135	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	41.478
136	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	40.971
137	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	39.731
138	Mexico`MEX`Central America	39.641
139	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	39.080
140	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	38.973
141	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	38.746
142	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	38.364
143	Belize`BLZ`Central America	38.340
144	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	38.067
145	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	37.569
146	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	37.566
147	Chile`CHL`South America	37.492
148	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	37.210
149	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	37.121
150	Guyana`GUY`South America	37.101
151	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	35.263
152	Puerto Rico`PRI`Caribbean	34.868
153	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	34.735
154	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	33.984
155	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	33.963
156	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	32.752
157	Suriname`SUR`South America	32.558
158	India`IND`Southern Asia	32.542
159	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	32.342
160	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	32.317
161	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	31.972
162	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	31.318
163	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	29.544
164	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	29.153
165	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	28.717
166	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	28.674
167	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	27.531
168	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	27.360
169	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	24.200
170	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	23.812
171	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	23.445
172	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	21.997
173	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	21.213
174	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	20.840
175	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	20.367
176	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	19.497
177	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	19.431
178	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	17.723
179	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	16.333
180	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	15.869
181	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	14.936
182	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	14.819
183	Palestine`PSE`Western Asia	12.082
184	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	11.763
185	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	11.610
186	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	11.304
187	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	8.850

02In 1997

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Mozambique87.035
2Burundi85.850
3Tanzania84.301
4Madagascar83.828
5Solomon Islands81.262

Lowest

187Iraq8.850
186Iran11.304
185Jordan11.610
184Algeria11.763
183Palestine12.082

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 49.826. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

031996 → 1997

Since 1996

What changed between 1996 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+0 / −0countries joined / left
187values changed, of 187 in both
119 · 68rose · fell
0unchanged

Rose most

Costa Rica34.067 → 37.121+3.054
Turkmenistan51.284 → 53.856+2.572
Peru51.655 → 54.186+2.531
Mexico37.684 → 39.641+1.957
Maldives29.501 → 31.318+1.817

Fell most

Qatar51.451 → 49.179−2.272
Georgia72.437 → 70.325−2.112
Kyrgyzstan61.306 → 59.439−1.867
Türkiye30.459 → 28.717−1.742
Syria19.043 → 17.723−1.320

Both years come from the same release, so a difference here is a change in the data, not a revision of it. Every country’s full history is charted on the statistic page.

04Caveats

Read before you use

What this edition’s numbers are and are not, worked out from the file itself.

How values are stored

One year of the 2026 release
Every year in this series comes from ILO’s 2026 release, recalculated on one method. It can differ from what was first published for 1997.
The position is ours
ILO publishes values only; the order is this site’s.
Nothing missing
Every one of the 187 countries has every column.

05The files

Download and cite

The table as a file, digit for digit, what this site changed, and a citation for this edition.

Licence in full

.csv
For a spreadsheet or code
187 rows · 5.4 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download female-labour-participation-1997-nations-inquiry.csv
↗
The publisher’s original
ILO’s own file, on its own site.
SL.TLF.CACT.FE.ZS

What this site changed: Reshaped into one row per country: regional and income-group totals are left out, only the columns listed are kept, each row gets its ISO 3166 code, and some country names are brought to one spelling. No value is recalculated, rescaled or rounded.

Licence: CC BY 4.0 · what it allows, in plain words

Cite this edition

International Labour Organization (ILO) (1997). Female Labour Force Participation Rate, 1997 [data set], describing 1997. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/female-labour-participation/1997

0636 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Female Labour Force Participation Rate, 1996
187 countries
The year after ›
Female Labour Force Participation Rate, 1998
187 countries
All of them
Female Labour Force Participation Rate: every year
36 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
How it has moved, charted by country

07Questions