Data for 1999

Self-Employment Rate, 1999

Name: Self-Employment Rate, 1999
Creator: International Labour Organization (ILO)
License: https://www.ilo.org/rights-and-permissions

1999, as ILO’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Self-Employment Rate, 1999 covers 187 countries. Afghanistan is highest, at 95.00; Qatar is lowest, at 1.27. The middle country reads 39.01. Against 1998, 187 values changed (53 up, 134 down), the same countries are covered.

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Self-Employment Rate · Data for 1999

HighestAfghanistan

95.00

LowestQatar

1.27

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

187countries
1measure
1999the year it describes
187distinct values14 decimals, as published
Sep 10, 2026read from the publisher
CC BY 4.0licence

01Position · derived

The table

Every country and every column of Self-Employment Rate, 1999, 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

Self-Employment Rate, 1999: every country, as published by International Labour Organization (ILO).
derived
1	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	95.00
2	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	94.94
3	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	94.17
4	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	93.71
5	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	93.08
6	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	92.66
7	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	91.69
8	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	90.28
9	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	88.66
10	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	88.56
11	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	87.70
12	Niger`NER`Western Africa	86.25
13	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	86.06
14	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	85.36
15	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	85.08
16	India`IND`Southern Asia	84.96
17	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	84.89
18	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	84.58
19	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	84.29
20	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	83.85
21	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	83.83
22	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	83.59
23	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	83.22
24	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	83.14
25	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	83.01
26	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	82.79
27	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	82.12
28	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	81.50
29	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	81.24
30	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	79.26
31	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	79.21
32	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	78.32
33	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	78.07
34	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	77.16
35	Bolivia`BOL`South America	76.34
36	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	76.33
37	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	76.03
38	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	74.49
39	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	74.28
40	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	72.99
41	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	72.25
42	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	68.82
43	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	68.49
44	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	68.00
45	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	67.03
46	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	66.83
47	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	66.70
48	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	65.19
49	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	65.08
50	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	64.08
51	Peru`PER`South America	63.65
52	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	62.32
53	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	62.23
54	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	60.58
55	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	59.59
56	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	58.02
57	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	56.93
58	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	56.52
59	Paraguay`PRY`South America	56.44
60	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	55.59
61	Tonga`TON`Polynesia	54.31
62	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	53.90
63	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	52.59
64	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	52.31
65	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	52.18
66	Ecuador`ECU`South America	51.40
67	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	51.12
68	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	50.51
69	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	50.09
70	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	49.76
71	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	49.65
72	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	49.56
73	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	48.70
74	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	48.41
75	Honduras`HND`Central America	48.07
76	Samoa`WSM`Polynesia	48.06
77	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	47.96
78	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	47.12
79	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	45.89
80	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	45.85
81	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	44.66
82	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	43.81
83	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	43.52
84	Colombia`COL`South America	42.86
85	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	42.69
86	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	42.43
87	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	42.28
88	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	41.95
89	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	41.65
90	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	40.80
91	Venezuela`VEN`South America	39.71
92	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	39.06
93	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	39.02
94	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	39.01
95	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	38.27
96	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	38.23
97	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	37.70
98	Guyana`GUY`South America	37.51
99	Panama`PAN`Central America	37.20
100	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	36.85
101	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	36.64
102	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	35.93
103	Mexico`MEX`Central America	35.82
104	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	35.35
105	Brazil`BRA`South America	35.30
106	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	34.74
107	Palestine`PSE`Western Asia	34.62
108	Belize`BLZ`Central America	34.45
109	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	33.10
110	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	32.34
111	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	32.04
112	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	31.67
113	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	30.87
114	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	30.84
115	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	30.55
116	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	29.80
117	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	29.78
118	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	28.30
119	Uruguay`URY`South America	27.02
120	Argentina`ARG`South America	26.96
121	Chile`CHL`South America	26.79
122	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	26.51
123	Saint Lucia`LCA`Caribbean	26.44
124	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines`VCT`Caribbean	25.55
125	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	25.14
126	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	24.84
127	French Polynesia`PYF`Polynesia	24.80
128	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	23.53
129	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	23.40
130	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	23.37
131	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	23.14
132	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	22.96
133	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	22.77
134	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	21.66
135	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	21.52
136	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	20.92
137	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	20.73
138	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	20.46
139	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	19.28
140	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	18.67
141	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	18.35
142	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	18.28
143	Suriname`SUR`South America	18.22
144	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	17.98
145	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	17.34
146	Guam`GUM`Micronesia	17.33
147	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	17.27
148	Bahamas`BHS`Caribbean	17.11
149	Canada`CAN`Northern America	16.95
150	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	16.82
151	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	16.81
152	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	16.69
153	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	15.70
154	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	15.60
155	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	15.38
156	New Caledonia`NCL`Melanesia	15.36
157	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	15.09
158	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	15.07
159	Puerto Rico`PRI`Caribbean	14.62
160	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	14.32
161	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	14.07
162	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	13.88
163	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	13.77
164	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	12.83
165	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	12.82
166	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	12.68
167	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	12.27
168	France`FRA`Western Europe	12.14
169	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	11.21
170	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	11.06
171	Macau`MAC`Eastern Asia	10.86
172	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	10.79
173	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	10.32
174	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	9.77
175	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	9.29
176	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	9.13
177	Channel Islands`CHI`Northern Europe	9.10
178	Brunei`BRN`South-eastern Asia	8.77
179	United States`USA`Northern America	8.10
180	United States Virgin Islands`VIR`Caribbean	8.07
181	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	7.62
182	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	7.03
183	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	6.56
184	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	4.28
185	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	3.50
186	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	3.45
187	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	1.27

02In 1999

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Afghanistan95.00
2Chad94.94
3Nigeria94.17
4Guinea93.71
5Sierra Leone93.08

Lowest

187Qatar1.27
186United Arab Emirates3.45
185Kuwait3.50
184Bahrain4.28
183Norway6.56

Neither end is better. The values describe a shape, not a score. The middle country reads 39.01. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

031998 → 1999

Since 1998

What changed between 1998 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+0 / −0countries joined / left
187values changed, of 187 in both
53 · 134rose · fell
0unchanged

Rose most

Vietnam74.22 → 77.16+2.94
North Macedonia22.69 → 25.14+2.45
Romania33.82 → 35.93+2.11
Cuba9.59 → 11.06+1.47
Barbados12.72 → 14.07+1.36

Fell most

Equatorial Guinea38.19 → 35.35−2.84
Sri Lanka47.71 → 45.89−1.82
Thailand64.00 → 62.23−1.77
Portugal27.93 → 26.51−1.42
Greece39.64 → 38.23−1.42

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 1999.
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 · 7.1 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download self-employment-1999-nations-inquiry.csv
↗
The publisher’s original
ILO’s own file, on its own site.
SL.EMP.SELF.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) (1999). Self-Employment Rate, 1999 [data set], describing 1999. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/self-employment/1999

0635 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Self-Employment Rate, 1998
187 countries
The year after ›
Self-Employment Rate, 2000
187 countries
All of them
Self-Employment Rate: every year
35 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
How it has moved, charted by country

07Questions