Data for 2016

Labour Force Participation Rate, 2016

Name: Labour Force Participation Rate, 2016
Creator: International Labour Organization (ILO)
License: https://www.ilo.org/rights-and-permissions

2016, as ILO’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Labour Force Participation Rate, 2016 covers 187 countries. Qatar is highest, at 87.475; São Tomé and Príncipe is lowest, at 23.951. The middle country reads 61.185. Against 2015, 187 values changed (82 up, 105 down), the same countries are covered.

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Labour Force Participation Rate · Data for 2016

HighestQatar

87.475

LowestSão Tomé and Príncipe

23.951

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

187countries
1measure
2016the year it describes
187distinct values3 decimals, as published
Sep 10, 2026read from the publisher
CC BY 4.0licence

01Position · derived

The table

Every country and every column of Labour Force Participation Rate, 2016, 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

Labour Force Participation Rate, 2016: every country, as published by International Labour Organization (ILO).
derived
1	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	87.475
2	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	85.830
3	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	84.340
4	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	83.894
5	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	82.020
6	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	81.735
7	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	80.843
8	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	79.924
9	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	79.080
10	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	79.019
11	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	78.446
12	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	78.371
13	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	77.416
14	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	76.965
15	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	76.937
16	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	76.368
17	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	75.899
18	Peru`PER`South America	75.377
19	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	74.405
20	Bahamas`BHS`Caribbean	74.032
21	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	73.978
22	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	73.919
23	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	73.777
24	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	73.419
25	Niger`NER`Western Africa	73.118
26	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	72.704
27	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	71.977
28	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	70.330
29	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	70.289
30	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	70.225
31	Macau`MAC`Eastern Asia	70.062
32	Paraguay`PRY`South America	69.966
33	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	69.907
34	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	69.865
35	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	69.546
36	Saint Lucia`LCA`Caribbean	69.339
37	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	69.244
38	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	68.880
39	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	68.663
40	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	68.315
41	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	68.147
42	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	68.066
43	Ecuador`ECU`South America	67.669
44	Bolivia`BOL`South America	67.359
45	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines`VCT`Caribbean	67.028
46	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	66.829
47	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	66.823
48	Colombia`COL`South America	66.418
49	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	66.314
50	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	66.281
51	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	66.201
52	Panama`PAN`Central America	66.186
53	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	66.070
54	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	66.064
55	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	66.021
56	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	65.882
57	Canada`CAN`Northern America	65.638
58	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	65.635
59	Brunei`BRN`South-eastern Asia	65.421
60	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	65.232
61	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	65.213
62	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	65.090
63	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	65.025
64	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	64.952
65	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	64.922
66	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	64.652
67	Uruguay`URY`South America	64.612
68	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	64.383
69	Brazil`BRA`South America	64.290
70	Belize`BLZ`Central America	64.249
71	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	64.078
72	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	63.762
73	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	63.378
74	Honduras`HND`Central America	63.322
75	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	63.085
76	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	62.961
77	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	62.872
78	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	62.639
79	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	62.626
80	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	62.461
81	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	62.451
82	United States`USA`Northern America	62.431
83	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	62.408
84	Guam`GUM`Micronesia	62.391
85	Chile`CHL`South America	62.324
86	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	62.119
87	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	62.041
88	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	61.744
89	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	61.642
90	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	61.590
91	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	61.517
92	New Caledonia`NCL`Melanesia	61.452
93	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	61.202
94	Venezuela`VEN`South America	61.185
95	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	61.035
96	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	60.696
97	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	60.689
98	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	60.685
99	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	60.561
100	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	60.556
101	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	60.453
102	Mexico`MEX`Central America	60.427
103	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	60.411
104	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	60.397
105	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	60.347
106	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	60.305
107	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	60.008
108	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	59.986
109	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	59.898
110	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	59.821
111	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	59.687
112	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	59.658
113	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	59.261
114	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	59.215
115	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	59.171
116	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	59.107
117	Argentina`ARG`South America	59.020
118	Channel Islands`CHI`Northern Europe	58.909
119	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	58.674
120	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	58.545
121	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	58.414
122	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	58.397
123	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	58.325
124	United States Virgin Islands`VIR`Caribbean	58.324
125	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	58.109
126	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	57.584
127	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	57.314
128	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	57.307
129	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	57.297
130	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	56.893
131	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	56.843
132	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	56.576
133	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	56.447
134	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	56.299
135	Suriname`SUR`South America	56.115
136	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	56.090
137	French Polynesia`PYF`Polynesia	55.876
138	Guyana`GUY`South America	55.672
139	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	55.581
140	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	55.435
141	France`FRA`Western Europe	55.399
142	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	54.975
143	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	54.714
144	Tonga`TON`Polynesia	54.687
145	Samoa`WSM`Polynesia	54.498
146	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	53.725
147	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	53.440
148	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	53.310
149	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	53.164
150	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	52.972
151	India`IND`Southern Asia	52.852
152	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	52.748
153	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	52.000
154	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	51.682
155	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	51.158
156	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	51.147
157	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	51.135
158	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	50.936
159	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	50.762
160	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	50.116
161	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	50.088
162	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	49.624
163	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	49.373
164	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	49.164
165	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	47.793
166	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	47.719
167	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	47.689
168	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	47.513
169	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	47.235
170	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	46.630
171	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	46.550
172	Palestine`PSE`Western Asia	43.769
173	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	43.514
174	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	43.325
175	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	43.165
176	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	43.150
177	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	42.333
178	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	41.589
179	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	40.096
180	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	39.706
181	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	38.935
182	Puerto Rico`PRI`Caribbean	38.155
183	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	37.716
184	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	34.135
185	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	32.431
186	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	32.282
187	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	23.951

02In 2016

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Qatar87.475
2Madagascar85.830
3Solomon Islands84.340
4Tanzania83.894
5North Korea82.020

Lowest

187São Tomé and Príncipe23.951
186Yemen32.282
185Djibouti32.431
184Somalia34.135
183Syria37.716

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 61.185. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

032015 → 2016

Since 2015

What changed between 2015 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+0 / −0countries joined / left
187values changed, of 187 in both
82 · 105rose · fell
0unchanged

Rose most

Senegal45.486 → 50.116+4.630
Cambodia79.603 → 81.735+2.132
Paraguay67.926 → 69.966+2.040
Ecuador65.658 → 67.669+2.011
Albania55.497 → 57.314+1.817

Fell most

Costa Rica62.808 → 59.687−3.121
Uganda75.584 → 73.777−1.807
Malawi66.956 → 65.232−1.724
Ethiopia77.984 → 76.368−1.616
Croatia52.587 → 51.158−1.429

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 2016.
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 · 5.3 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download labour-participation-2016-nations-inquiry.csv
↗
The publisher’s original
ILO’s own file, on its own site.
SL.TLF.CACT.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) (2016). Labour Force Participation Rate, 2016 [data set], describing 2016. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/labour-participation/2016

0636 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Labour Force Participation Rate, 2015
187 countries
The year after ›
Labour Force Participation Rate, 2017
187 countries
All of them
Labour Force Participation Rate: every year
36 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
How it has moved, charted by country

07Questions