Data for 2018

Labour Force Participation Rate, 2018

Name: Labour Force Participation Rate, 2018
Creator: International Labour Organization (ILO)
License: https://www.ilo.org/rights-and-permissions

2018, as ILO’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Labour Force Participation Rate, 2018 covers 187 countries. Qatar is highest, at 87.503; São Tomé and Príncipe is lowest, at 23.794. The middle country reads 61.306. Against 2017, 187 values changed (89 up, 98 down), the same countries are covered.

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Labour Force Participation Rate · Data for 2018

HighestQatar

87.503

LowestSão Tomé and Príncipe

23.794

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

187countries
1measure
2018the 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, 2018, 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, 2018: every country, as published by International Labour Organization (ILO).
derived
1	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	87.503
2	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	85.496
3	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	84.304
4	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	83.834
5	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	82.179
6	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	81.911
7	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	80.955
8	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	80.045
9	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	79.108
10	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	78.949
11	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	78.688
12	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	77.871
13	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	77.482
14	Peru`PER`South America	77.179
15	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	76.873
16	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	75.978
17	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	75.316
18	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	74.794
19	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	74.707
20	Bahamas`BHS`Caribbean	74.297
21	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	74.238
22	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	73.568
23	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	73.430
24	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	73.160
25	Niger`NER`Western Africa	72.666
26	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	72.070
27	Paraguay`PRY`South America	71.868
28	Bolivia`BOL`South America	71.798
29	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	70.517
30	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	70.506
31	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	70.130
32	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	70.103
33	Macau`MAC`Eastern Asia	70.082
34	Saint Lucia`LCA`Caribbean	69.880
35	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	68.581
36	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	68.575
37	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	68.387
38	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	68.284
39	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	68.147
40	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	67.810
41	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	67.798
42	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	67.652
43	Panama`PAN`Central America	67.571
44	Belize`BLZ`Central America	67.295
45	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines`VCT`Caribbean	67.294
46	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	67.204
47	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	67.053
48	Ecuador`ECU`South America	66.660
49	Honduras`HND`Central America	66.492
50	Brunei`BRN`South-eastern Asia	66.433
51	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	66.382
52	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	65.934
53	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	65.909
54	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	65.894
55	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	65.804
56	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	65.714
57	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	65.574
58	Canada`CAN`Northern America	65.547
59	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	65.484
60	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	65.432
61	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	65.406
62	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	65.399
63	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	65.380
64	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	65.282
65	Colombia`COL`South America	65.237
66	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	65.155
67	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	64.519
68	Brazil`BRA`South America	64.501
69	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	64.500
70	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	64.412
71	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	63.934
72	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	63.771
73	Uruguay`URY`South America	63.679
74	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	63.498
75	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	63.373
76	Chile`CHL`South America	63.207
77	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	63.107
78	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	62.901
79	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	62.757
80	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	62.619
81	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	62.603
82	United States`USA`Northern America	62.592
83	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	62.445
84	Guam`GUM`Micronesia	62.364
85	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	62.361
86	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	62.210
87	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	62.142
88	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	61.906
89	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	61.544
90	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	61.446
91	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	61.431
92	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	61.339
93	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	61.329
94	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	61.306
95	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	61.148
96	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	60.989
97	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	60.919
98	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	60.859
99	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	60.647
100	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	60.503
101	Mexico`MEX`Central America	60.429
102	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	60.378
103	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	60.373
104	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	59.974
105	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	59.746
106	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	59.727
107	Argentina`ARG`South America	59.595
108	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	59.418
109	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	59.309
110	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	59.296
111	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	59.291
112	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	59.274
113	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	59.255
114	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	59.254
115	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	58.981
116	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	58.955
117	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	58.953
118	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	58.945
119	New Caledonia`NCL`Melanesia	58.939
120	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	58.915
121	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	58.879
122	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	58.728
123	Channel Islands`CHI`Northern Europe	58.550
124	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	58.475
125	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	58.460
126	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	58.297
127	Venezuela`VEN`South America	58.193
128	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	58.033
129	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	57.634
130	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	57.534
131	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	57.361
132	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	56.552
133	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	56.312
134	Suriname`SUR`South America	56.302
135	Guyana`GUY`South America	55.791
136	French Polynesia`PYF`Polynesia	55.614
137	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	55.560
138	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	55.461
139	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	55.316
140	France`FRA`Western Europe	55.300
141	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	55.161
142	United States Virgin Islands`VIR`Caribbean	55.066
143	Tonga`TON`Polynesia	53.995
144	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	53.962
145	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	53.912
146	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	53.669
147	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	53.579
148	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	53.566
149	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	53.212
150	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	52.796
151	India`IND`Southern Asia	52.482
152	Samoa`WSM`Polynesia	52.348
153	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	51.834
154	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	51.721
155	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	51.280
156	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	50.994
157	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	50.935
158	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	50.833
159	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	50.800
160	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	50.788
161	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	50.534
162	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	49.621
163	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	49.275
164	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	49.129
165	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	48.610
166	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	48.433
167	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	48.353
168	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	47.770
169	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	45.830
170	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	45.566
171	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	44.390
172	Palestine`PSE`Western Asia	43.452
173	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	43.299
174	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	42.931
175	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	42.281
176	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	41.353
177	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	41.244
178	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	41.079
179	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	39.743
180	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	39.176
181	Puerto Rico`PRI`Caribbean	38.582
182	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	37.981
183	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	37.782
184	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	34.062
185	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	32.612
186	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	32.111
187	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	23.794

02In 2018

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Qatar87.503
2Madagascar85.496
3Solomon Islands84.304
4Tanzania83.834
5North Korea82.179

Lowest

187São Tomé and Príncipe23.794
186Djibouti32.111
185Yemen32.612
184Somalia34.062
183Syria37.782

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 61.306. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

032017 → 2018

Since 2017

What changed between 2017 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+0 / −0countries joined / left
187values changed, of 187 in both
89 · 98rose · fell
0unchanged

Rose most

Belize64.034 → 67.295+3.261
Bolivia68.634 → 71.798+3.164
Uganda71.759 → 74.794+3.035
Costa Rica59.848 → 62.210+2.362
Senegal46.002 → 48.353+2.351

Fell most

United States Virgin Islands59.135 → 55.066−4.069
Cabo Verde59.180 → 55.560−3.620
Sri Lanka53.991 → 51.721−2.270
Kenya72.306 → 70.103−2.203
Samoa54.432 → 52.348−2.084

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 2018.
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-2018-nations-inquiry.csv
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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) (2018). Labour Force Participation Rate, 2018 [data set], describing 2018. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/labour-participation/2018

0636 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Labour Force Participation Rate, 2017
187 countries
The year after ›
Labour Force Participation Rate, 2019
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