Data for 1999

Unemployment Rate, 1999

Name: Unemployment 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

Unemployment Rate, 1999 covers 187 countries. North Macedonia is highest, at 32.400; Pakistan is lowest, at 0.625. The middle country reads 7.300. Against 1998, 182 values changed (104 up, 78 down), the same countries are covered.

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Unemployment Rate · Data for 1999

HighestNorth Macedonia

32.400

LowestPakistan

0.625

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

187countries
1measure
1999the year it describes
185distinct values3 decimals, as published
Sep 6, 2026read from the publisher
CC BY 4.0licence

01Position · derived

The table

Every country and every column of Unemployment 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

Unemployment Rate, 1999: every country, as published by International Labour Organization (ILO).
derived
1	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	32.400
2	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	30.471
3	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	28.575
4	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	26.742
5	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	24.441
6	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	23.868
7	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	22.884
8	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	21.668
9	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	20.835
10	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines`VCT`Caribbean	20.542
11	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	20.141
12	Colombia`COL`South America	20.060
13	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	19.233
14	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	18.847
15	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	18.224
16	New Caledonia`NCL`Melanesia	18.205
17	Saint Lucia`LCA`Caribbean	18.090
18	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	17.599
19	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	16.543
20	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	16.167
21	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	16.099
22	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	15.475
23	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	15.399
24	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	15.210
25	Venezuela`VEN`South America	14.530
26	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	14.352
27	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	14.100
28	Argentina`ARG`South America	14.050
29	Guam`GUM`Micronesia	13.950
30	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	13.940
31	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	13.800
32	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	13.790
33	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	13.763
34	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	13.700
35	Suriname`SUR`South America	13.600
36	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	13.559
37	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	13.460
38	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	13.388
39	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	13.300
40	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	13.120
41	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	13.071
42	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	13.036
43	Belize`BLZ`Central America	12.840
44	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	12.800
45	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	12.700
46	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	12.498
47	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	12.290
=48	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	12.138
=48	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	12.138
50	France`FRA`Western Europe	11.981
51	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	11.864
52	Puerto Rico`PRI`Caribbean	11.810
53	Guyana`GUY`South America	11.771
54	French Polynesia`PYF`Polynesia	11.701
55	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	11.693
56	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	11.681
57	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	11.573
58	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	11.569
59	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	11.460
60	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	11.200
61	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	11.183
62	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	11.176
63	Chile`CHL`South America	11.158
64	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	11.140
65	Brazil`BRA`South America	11.125
66	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	10.900
67	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	10.610
68	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	10.549
69	Uruguay`URY`South America	10.466
70	Palestine`PSE`Western Asia	10.382
71	United States Virgin Islands`VIR`Caribbean	10.172
72	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	10.100
73	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	10.033
74	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	9.737
75	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	9.278
76	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	8.880
77	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	8.854
78	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	8.787
79	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	8.702
80	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	8.649
81	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	8.290
82	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	7.979
83	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	7.950
84	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	7.877
85	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	7.687
86	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	7.607
87	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	7.600
88	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	7.595
=89	Canada`CAN`Northern America	7.583
=89	India`IND`Southern Asia	7.583
91	Bahamas`BHS`Caribbean	7.450
92	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	7.417
93	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	7.324
94	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	7.300
95	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	7.200
96	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	7.180
97	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	7.023
98	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	6.929
99	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	6.876
100	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	6.813
101	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	6.358
102	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	6.342
103	Macau`MAC`Eastern Asia	6.340
104	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	6.325
105	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	6.312
106	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	6.260
107	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	6.250
108	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	6.239
109	Panama`PAN`Central America	6.168
110	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	6.042
111	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	6.000
112	Channel Islands`CHI`Northern Europe	5.910
113	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	5.900
114	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	5.844
115	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	5.822
116	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	5.804
117	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	5.767
118	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	5.604
119	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	5.532
120	Brunei`BRN`South-eastern Asia	5.415
121	Paraguay`PRY`South America	5.343
122	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	5.141
123	Peru`PER`South America	5.011
124	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	5.002
125	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	4.850
126	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	4.699
127	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	4.698
128	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	4.677
129	Ecuador`ECU`South America	4.656
130	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	4.579
131	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	4.544
132	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	4.517
133	Samoa`WSM`Polynesia	4.489
134	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	4.450
135	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	4.433
136	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	4.421
137	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	4.346
138	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	4.288
139	United States`USA`Northern America	4.219
140	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	3.986
141	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	3.889
142	Honduras`HND`Central America	3.850
143	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	3.751
144	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	3.714
145	Tonga`TON`Polynesia	3.690
146	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	3.670
147	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	3.633
148	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	3.622
149	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	3.460
150	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	3.430
151	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	3.269
152	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	3.250
153	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	3.247
154	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	3.230
155	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	3.219
156	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	3.133
157	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	3.088
158	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	3.053
159	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	2.968
160	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	2.939
161	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	2.884
162	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	2.663
163	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	2.655
164	Mexico`MEX`Central America	2.598
165	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	2.552
166	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	2.390
167	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	2.330
168	Bolivia`BOL`South America	2.299
169	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	2.195
170	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	2.194
171	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	2.178
172	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	2.154
173	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	2.113
174	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	2.006
175	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	2.001
176	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	1.726
177	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	1.400
178	Niger`NER`Western Africa	1.385
179	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	1.358
180	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	1.112
181	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	0.949
182	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	0.870
183	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	0.753
184	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	0.750
185	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	0.727
186	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	0.700
187	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	0.625

02In 1999

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

Lowest

187Pakistan0.625
186Kuwait0.700
185Cambodia0.727
184Myanmar0.750
183Chad0.753

A higher value is the worse result. The middle country reads 7.300. “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
182values changed, of 187 in both
104 · 78rose · fell
5unchanged

Rose most

Guam7.740 → 13.950+6.210
Colombia15.000 → 20.060+5.060
Chile7.307 → 11.158+3.851
Slovakia12.421 → 16.099+3.678
Venezuela11.150 → 14.530+3.380

Fell most

Saint Lucia21.600 → 18.090−3.510
Spain18.673 → 15.475−3.198
Botswana20.860 → 18.224−2.636
North Macedonia34.500 → 32.400−2.100
Hungary8.925 → 6.929−1.996

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.
185 distinct values among 187
Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 2 countries share 12.138. Countries sharing a value share a position too.
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 · 5.1 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download unemployment-rate-1999-nations-inquiry.csv
↗
The publisher’s original
ILO’s own file, on its own site.
SL.UEM.TOTL.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). Unemployment Rate, 1999 [data set], describing 1999. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/unemployment-rate/1999

0635 held

Other years

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

07Questions