Data for 2021

Labour Force Participation Rate, 2021

Name: Labour Force Participation Rate, 2021
Creator: International Labour Organization (ILO)
License: https://www.ilo.org/rights-and-permissions

2021, as ILO’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Labour Force Participation Rate, 2021 covers 187 countries. Qatar is highest, at 86.363; São Tomé and Príncipe is lowest, at 23.308. The middle country reads 60.631. Against 2020, 187 values changed (128 up, 59 down), the same countries are covered.

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Labour Force Participation Rate · Data for 2021

HighestQatar

86.363

LowestSão Tomé and Príncipe

23.308

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

187countries
1measure
2021the 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, 2021, 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, 2021: every country, as published by International Labour Organization (ILO).
derived
1	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	86.363
2	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	85.032
3	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	83.907
4	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	83.733
5	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	80.711
6	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	80.143
7	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	79.510
8	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	79.300
9	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	79.094
10	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	78.074
11	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	77.949
12	Bolivia`BOL`South America	77.790
13	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	77.054
14	Niger`NER`Western Africa	76.515
15	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	76.372
16	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	76.339
17	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	76.076
18	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	73.984
19	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	73.738
20	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	73.504
21	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	73.413
22	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	72.626
23	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	72.510
24	Peru`PER`South America	71.930
25	Paraguay`PRY`South America	71.919
26	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	70.686
27	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	70.585
28	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	70.396
29	Bahamas`BHS`Caribbean	69.658
30	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	69.360
31	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	69.094
32	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	68.940
33	Macau`MAC`Eastern Asia	68.924
34	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	68.253
35	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	67.736
36	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	67.462
37	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	67.110
38	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	66.952
39	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	66.766
40	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines`VCT`Caribbean	66.756
41	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	66.534
42	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	66.476
43	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	66.473
44	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	66.233
45	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	66.147
46	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	65.868
47	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	65.783
48	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	65.704
49	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	65.694
50	Ecuador`ECU`South America	65.686
51	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	65.680
52	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	65.619
53	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	65.541
54	Saint Lucia`LCA`Caribbean	65.499
55	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	65.397
56	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	65.315
57	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	65.258
58	Canada`CAN`Northern America	65.195
59	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	64.618
60	Colombia`COL`South America	64.330
61	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	64.176
62	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	64.020
63	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	63.994
64	Brunei`BRN`South-eastern Asia	63.895
65	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	63.765
66	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	63.700
67	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	63.623
68	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	63.546
69	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	63.511
70	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	63.319
71	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	63.186
72	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	63.174
73	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	62.937
74	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	62.931
75	Uruguay`URY`South America	62.887
76	Panama`PAN`Central America	62.800
77	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	62.667
78	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	62.550
79	Brazil`BRA`South America	62.456
80	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	62.413
81	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	62.387
82	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	62.301
83	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	62.053
84	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	61.973
85	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	61.966
86	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	61.946
87	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	61.767
88	United States`USA`Northern America	61.501
89	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	61.482
90	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	61.199
91	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	61.085
92	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	61.006
93	Honduras`HND`Central America	60.688
94	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	60.631
95	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	60.395
96	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	60.389
97	Belize`BLZ`Central America	60.360
98	Argentina`ARG`South America	60.358
99	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	60.201
100	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	60.099
101	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	60.077
102	Mexico`MEX`Central America	59.925
103	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	59.784
104	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	59.768
105	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	59.684
106	Guam`GUM`Micronesia	59.644
107	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	59.450
108	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	59.340
109	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	59.173
110	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	59.115
111	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	59.025
112	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	58.744
113	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	58.698
114	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	58.380
115	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	58.284
116	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	58.197
117	Channel Islands`CHI`Northern Europe	57.819
118	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	57.713
119	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	57.677
120	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	57.632
121	Chile`CHL`South America	57.552
122	New Caledonia`NCL`Melanesia	57.367
123	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	57.272
124	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	56.831
125	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	56.797
126	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	56.482
127	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	56.471
128	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	56.178
129	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	56.030
130	France`FRA`Western Europe	55.552
131	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	55.392
132	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	55.195
133	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	55.191
134	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	54.639
135	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	54.460
136	French Polynesia`PYF`Polynesia	54.253
137	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	54.185
138	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	54.048
139	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	53.612
140	United States Virgin Islands`VIR`Caribbean	53.562
141	Suriname`SUR`South America	53.245
142	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	52.787
143	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	52.730
144	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	52.624
145	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	52.584
146	India`IND`Southern Asia	52.522
147	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	52.467
148	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	52.039
149	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	52.024
150	Tonga`TON`Polynesia	51.935
151	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	51.681
152	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	51.672
153	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	51.617
154	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	51.359
155	Guyana`GUY`South America	51.186
156	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	50.330
157	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	49.836
158	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	49.686
159	Venezuela`VEN`South America	48.611
160	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	48.517
161	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	48.443
162	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	48.102
163	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	47.716
164	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	47.636
165	Samoa`WSM`Polynesia	45.590
166	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	45.518
167	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	45.463
168	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	45.300
169	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	45.228
170	Palestine`PSE`Western Asia	43.367
171	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	42.987
172	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	41.701
173	Puerto Rico`PRI`Caribbean	41.291
174	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	41.043
175	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	40.703
176	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	40.684
177	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	39.663
178	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	39.513
179	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	38.670
180	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	38.425
181	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	38.353
182	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	37.071
183	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	36.334
184	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	33.733
185	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	32.308
186	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	31.784
187	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	23.308

02In 2021

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Qatar86.363
2Madagascar85.032
3Solomon Islands83.907
4Tanzania83.733
5North Korea80.711

Lowest

187São Tomé and Príncipe23.308
186Djibouti31.784
185Yemen32.308
184Somalia33.733
183Syria36.334

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 60.631. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

032020 → 2021

Since 2020

What changed between 2020 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+0 / −0countries joined / left
187values changed, of 187 in both
128 · 59rose · fell
0unchanged

Rose most

Saint Lucia53.739 → 65.499+11.760
Belize54.680 → 60.360+5.680
Ecuador60.033 → 65.686+5.653
Bolivia72.264 → 77.790+5.526
Argentina56.023 → 60.358+4.335

Fell most

Malawi68.264 → 62.931−5.333
Myanmar60.151 → 55.191−4.960
Rwanda62.660 → 58.197−4.463
Panama66.400 → 62.800−3.600
Azerbaijan67.223 → 63.700−3.523

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 2021.
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-2021-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) (2021). Labour Force Participation Rate, 2021 [data set], describing 2021. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/labour-participation/2021

0636 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Labour Force Participation Rate, 2020
187 countries
The year after ›
Labour Force Participation Rate, 2022
186 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