Data for 2016

Unemployment Rate, 2016

Name: Unemployment 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

Unemployment Rate, 2016 covers 187 countries. South Africa is highest, at 26.536; Qatar is lowest, at 0.150. The middle country reads 5.896. Against 2015, 184 values changed (88 up, 96 down), the same countries are covered.

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Unemployment Rate · Data for 2016

HighestSouth Africa

26.536

LowestQatar

0.150

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

187countries
1measure
2016the year it describes
186distinct 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, 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

Unemployment Rate, 2016: every country, as published by International Labour Organization (ILO).
derived
1	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	26.536
2	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	25.982
3	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	25.408
4	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	24.312
5	Palestine`PSE`Western Asia	23.939
6	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	23.514
7	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	23.352
8	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	22.718
9	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	20.298
10	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	20.117
11	Saint Lucia`LCA`Caribbean	19.932
12	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	19.635
13	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	19.559
14	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	19.328
15	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines`VCT`Caribbean	19.029
16	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	18.611
17	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	18.420
18	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	17.732
19	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	17.617
20	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	16.604
21	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	16.572
22	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	16.138
23	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	15.557
24	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	15.418
25	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	15.275
26	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	15.257
27	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	13.902
28	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	13.798
29	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	13.656
30	Guyana`GUY`South America	13.263
31	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	13.015
32	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	13.006
33	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	12.854
34	Bahamas`BHS`Caribbean	12.700
35	New Caledonia`NCL`Melanesia	12.679
36	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	12.618
37	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	12.450
38	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	12.085
39	Puerto Rico`PRI`Caribbean	11.800
40	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	11.788
41	United States Virgin Islands`VIR`Caribbean	11.734
42	French Polynesia`PYF`Polynesia	11.727
43	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	11.688
44	Brazil`BRA`South America	11.580
45	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	11.058
46	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	10.899
47	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	10.820
48	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	10.714
49	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	10.287
50	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	10.202
51	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	10.116
52	France`FRA`Western Europe	10.057
53	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	9.794
54	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	9.684
55	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	9.679
56	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	9.643
57	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	9.350
58	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	9.300
59	Samoa`WSM`Polynesia	9.063
60	Colombia`COL`South America	8.922
61	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	8.818
62	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	8.634
63	Brunei`BRN`South-eastern Asia	8.537
64	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	8.374
65	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	8.247
66	Argentina`ARG`South America	8.088
67	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	8.085
68	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	8.000
69	Suriname`SUR`South America	7.917
70	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	7.862
71	Uruguay`URY`South America	7.841
72	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	7.830
73	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	7.798
74	India`IND`Southern Asia	7.611
75	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	7.575
76	Channel Islands`CHI`Northern Europe	7.469
77	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	7.284
78	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	7.235
79	Canada`CAN`Northern America	7.038
80	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	7.036
81	Belize`BLZ`Central America	7.000
82	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	6.990
83	Chile`CHL`South America	6.926
84	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	6.882
85	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	6.814
86	Honduras`HND`Central America	6.727
87	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	6.669
88	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	6.244
89	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	6.141
90	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	6.064
91	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	6.007
92	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	5.989
93	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	5.901
94	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	5.896
95	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	5.844
96	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	5.793
97	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	5.772
98	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	5.771
99	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	5.711
100	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	5.600
101	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	5.591
102	Guam`GUM`Micronesia	5.400
103	Venezuela`VEN`South America	5.319
104	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	5.256
105	Paraguay`PRY`South America	5.255
106	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	5.244
107	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	5.197
108	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	5.160
109	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	5.147
110	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	5.115
111	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	5.011
112	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	5.000
113	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	4.997
114	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	4.960
115	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	4.918
116	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	4.909
117	United States`USA`Northern America	4.869
118	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	4.723
119	Panama`PAN`Central America	4.717
120	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	4.694
121	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	4.680
122	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	4.657
123	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	4.598
124	Ecuador`ECU`South America	4.597
125	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	4.560
126	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	4.528
127	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	4.499
128	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	4.455
129	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	4.418
130	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	4.350
131	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	4.319
132	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	4.301
133	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	4.294
134	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	4.242
135	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	4.182
136	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	4.117
137	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	4.104
138	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	4.080
139	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	4.026
140	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	3.952
141	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	3.900
142	Mexico`MEX`Central America	3.853
143	Peru`PER`South America	3.741
=144	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	3.650
=144	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	3.650
146	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	3.574
147	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	3.529
148	Bolivia`BOL`South America	3.498
149	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	3.440
150	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	3.392
151	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	3.266
152	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	3.207
153	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	3.139
154	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	3.132
155	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	3.081
156	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	3.002
157	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	2.978
158	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	2.968
159	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	2.757
160	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	2.707
161	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	2.695
162	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	2.634
163	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	2.583
164	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	2.556
165	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	2.478
166	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	2.285
167	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	2.160
168	Tonga`TON`Polynesia	2.048
169	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	2.000
170	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	1.949
171	Macau`MAC`Eastern Asia	1.939
172	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	1.931
173	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	1.896
174	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	1.848
175	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	1.834
176	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	1.640
177	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	1.591
178	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	1.367
179	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	1.352
180	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	1.190
181	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	1.091
182	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	1.058
183	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	0.736
184	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	0.716
185	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	0.688
186	Niger`NER`Western Africa	0.550
187	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	0.150

02In 2016

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

Lowest

187Qatar0.150
186Niger0.550
185Thailand0.688
184Cambodia0.716
183Solomon Islands0.736

A higher value is the worse result. The middle country reads 5.896. “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
184values changed, of 187 in both
88 · 96rose · fell
3unchanged

Rose most

Brazil8.538 → 11.580+3.042
Namibia20.791 → 23.352+2.561
Mongolia4.861 → 7.235+2.374
Jordan13.075 → 15.275+2.200
Iran11.166 → 12.618+1.452

Fell most

Croatia16.150 → 13.015−3.135
Spain22.057 → 19.635−2.422
Serbia17.660 → 15.257−2.403
Senegal6.757 → 4.455−2.302
Bosnia and Herzegovina27.695 → 25.408−2.287

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.
186 distinct values among 187
Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 2 countries share 3.650. 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-2016-nations-inquiry.csv
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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) (2016). Unemployment Rate, 2016 [data set], describing 2016. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/unemployment-rate/2016

0635 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Unemployment Rate, 2015
187 countries
The year after ›
Unemployment Rate, 2017
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