Topic 03 of 18 · Country Index 2026

Work & Labour

Can people find work, and on what terms?

Iceland is placed first of 182 countries on work & labour in the Country Index 2026, and Afghanistan 182nd. The standing rests on 4 key statistics; the other 34 on this page are published as context, with no vote.

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Placed first · Country Index 2026Iceland

1st of 182

182countries placed
42measured, not placed
4key statistics
38statistics in all
2publishers
2025the years the keys describe

01Country Index 2026

Who leads on work & labour

The three countries placed highest of 182, the three placed lowest, and the country placed highest on each continent. Each position is a place in this topic’s own list, built from its key statistics.

1
Iceland
Northern Europe
1st of 182 · 4 of 4 keys
Photo: Hansueli Krapf · CC BY-SA 3.0, greyscale
2
Japan
Eastern Asia
2nd of 182 · 4 of 4 keys
Photo: JurriaanH · CC BY-SA 3.0, greyscale
3
South Korea
Eastern Asia
3rd of 182 · 4 of 4 keys
Photo: Unknown author · CC BY-SA 2.0, greyscale

Placed lowest on Work & Labour

Positions out of 182. A standing is relative: it says where a country places against the others measured, not that it scored zero.

Placed first on each continent · position among all 182

02The subject

About work & labour

Who works, on what terms, and for what share of what the economy produces. Whether people looking for a job can find one, how much of the working-age population is in work at all, how much of that work carries a contract and any protection, and how much of national income reaches workers rather than owners. Employment is kept apart from the wider economy here because a growing economy and a working population are not the same thing, and they often move in opposite directions.

This topic looks at work from the worker's side. Whether people who want a job can find one is only the start: some people stop looking and stop being counted, so how much of the working-age population is actually in work matters as much as the unemployment rate.

The terms of work matter too. Much of the world's work is own-account or unpaid family labour, with no contract and no protection when something goes wrong. And the share of a nation's income that reaches workers, rather than the owners of capital, says whether a growing economy is growing for the people doing the work.

What this topic does not measure

Wages in money terms are not a key here, because pay figures are hard to compare fairly across countries with very different prices. Labour productivity, working hours, youth unemployment and the balance between farming, industry and services are published on this page as context. The size and growth of the wider economy belong to Economy & Innovation.

03The evidence

The 4 statistics that decide it

These are the only statistics that place countries on work & labour — one vote each. Every number is somebody else’s research, reproduced without adjustment; the ordering on top is this site’s.

Key 1 of 4
Employment-to-Population Ratio
International Labour Organization (ILO)
Why it is a key: How much of the working-age population is actually in work — the half of the picture unemployment hides, because people who stop looking stop being counted.
Edition used
2025data for 2025
Countries
182
Publisher’s rank
None — values only
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Current leader, 2025 editionQatar
Every country, every edition
Key 2 of 4
Labour Income Share
International Labour Organization (ILO)
Why it is a key: How much of national income reaches workers rather than owners of capital.
Edition used
2025data for 2025
Countries
182
Publisher’s rank
None — values only
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Current leader, 2025 editionNigeria
Every country, every edition
Key 3 of 4
Unemployment Rate
International Labour Organization (ILO)
Why it is a key: The share of people looking for work who cannot find it.
Edition used
2025data for 2025
Countries
182
Publisher’s rank
None — values only
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Most affected, 2025 editionEswatini
Every country, every edition
Key 4 of 4
Vulnerable Employment
International Labour Organization (ILO)
Why it is a key: How much work is own-account or unpaid family labour, carrying no contract and no protection.
Edition used
2025data for 2025
Countries
182
Publisher’s rank
None — values only
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Most affected, 2025 editionChad
Every country, every edition
How the keys combine
Each country’s value on each key becomes its place in that key’s own field, as a share of the field. The shares are averaged, one vote per key, and only the order that produces is published.
The method in full

04Every placed country

Work & Labour on a map

Darker is placed higher. Hover a country for its position, or select it to open its page. Below the map, each continent’s median position — half its placed countries sit at or above it, so lower is better.

All regions

1st182ndNot placed · 42 countries with too few key statisticsNo data

1st of 5 continents
Europe
47th
median position, of 182 · 39 of its 49 countries placed
HighestIceland
2nd of 5 continents
Asia
72nd
median position, of 182 · 48 of its 52 countries placed
HighestJapan
3rd of 5 continents
Americas
78th
median position, of 182 · 33 of its 48 countries placed
HighestUnited States
4th of 5 continents
Oceania
103rd
median position, of 182 · 11 of its 21 countries placed
HighestAustralia
5th of 5 continents
Africa
138th
median position, of 182 · 51 of its 55 countries placed
HighestNigeria
Every region

All 21 sub-regions on Work & Labour, best median first

1Australia and New Zealandmedian 4thfrom 2 of 2Australia=4
2Northern Americamedian 14thfrom 2 of 4United States14
3Eastern Asiamedian 26thfrom 7 of 8Japan2
4Western Europemedian 31stfrom 7 of 9Germany=4
5Eastern Europemedian 39thfrom 9 of 10Belarus=8
6Northern Europemedian 42ndfrom 11 of 13Iceland1
7Western Asiamedian 45thfrom 16 of 19Qatar=8
8South-eastern Asiamedian 52ndfrom 11 of 11Singapore17
9Central Americamedian 78thfrom 8 of 8El Salvador50
10Caribbeanmedian 83rdfrom 11 of 24Jamaica25
11Southern Europemedian 86thfrom 12 of 17Slovenia18
12South Americamedian 87thfrom 12 of 12Bolivia=29
13Western Africamedian 107thfrom 16 of 16Nigeria16
14Melanesiamedian 115thfrom 5 of 5Solomon Islands=39
15Eastern Africamedian 116thfrom 16 of 19Tanzania=29
16Central Asiamedian 123rdfrom 5 of 5Kazakhstan69
17Polynesiamedian 128thfrom 3 of 7Tonga=103
18Southern Asiamedian 136thfrom 9 of 9Maldives=64
19Middle Africamedian 142ndfrom 9 of 9Cameroon97
20Southern Africamedian 157thfrom 5 of 5South Africa=134
21Northern Africamedian 158thfrom 5 of 6Tunisia145

05The whole field

Where all 182 countries stand

In order, best first. A row resting on fewer keys rests on less evidence: a country needs 2 of the 4 to be placed at all. “=” marks a position shared with another country. Select a country to see the working behind its standing.

The full Country Index 2026

Search this list

Showing 25 of 182 countries placed on Work & Labour

42 countries measured in the index but not placed on work & labour

Each holds readings on too few of this topic’s key statistics to be placed. Their profiles still show every reading the publishers give.

06Beyond the headline

A different story

The countries placed furthest above and below their overall position in the Country Index 2026. Both positions are compared as a share of their own field, because 50th of 193 and 50th of 174 are not the same showing.

Placed higher on Work & Labour than overall

Placed lower on Work & Labour than overall

07In records

Work in records

One country at the extreme of a statistic under this topic, read from its newest edition. Where countries tie at the top, no record is named.

All statistics

Highest output per hour worked
Ireland
164.65
international $ per hour, 2021 prices
ILO · data for 2025
Highest share of adults in work
Qatar
86.9
% of the population aged 15+
ILO · data for 2025
Highest trade union membership
Iceland
91.42
% of employees
ILO · data for 2020

08Context, no vote

Also measured under work & labour

34 more statistics on the same subject, published in full and deliberately given no vote — keeping them out is what stops the standing drifting toward whichever kind of statistic was imported most. Select a row for its leader and trend.

All statistics

Unemployment Benefit CoverageILO · 200 countries · 2024ILO2002024
International Labour Organization (ILO) · 1 edition
Chart and every country The 2024 dataset
Employment Injury Protection CoverageILO · 193 countries · 2024ILO1932024
International Labour Organization (ILO) · 1 edition
Chart and every country The 2024 dataset
Length of Paid Maternity LeaveWorld Bank Group · 190 countries · 2025World Bank Group1902025
Current leader:Bulgaria
World Bank Group · 55 editions, data 1970–2025
Chart and every country The 2026 dataset
Length of Paid Paternity LeaveWorld Bank Group · 190 countries · 2025World Bank Group1902025
Current leader:Slovakia
World Bank Group · 55 editions, data 1970–2025
Chart and every country The 2026 dataset
Compliance with Labour RightsILO · 186 countries · 2024ILO1862024
International Labour Organization (ILO) · 10 editions, data 2015–2024
Chart and every country The 2024 dataset
Female Labour Force Participation RateILO · 182 countries · 2025ILO1822025
Current leader:Madagascar
International Labour Organization (ILO) · 36 editions, data 1990–2025
Chart and every country The 2025 dataset
Labour Force Participation RateILO · 182 countries · 2025ILO1822025
Current leader:Qatar
International Labour Organization (ILO) · 36 editions, data 1990–2025
Chart and every country The 2025 dataset
Labour Productivity per Hour WorkedILO · 182 countries · 2025ILO1822025
Current leader:Ireland
International Labour Organization (ILO) · 21 editions, data 2005–2025
Chart and every country The 2025 dataset
Youth Unemployment RateILO · 182 countries · 2025ILO1822025
Most affected:Djibouti
International Labour Organization (ILO) · 35 editions, data 1991–2025
Chart and every country The 2025 dataset
Firms Competing Against Informal FirmsWorld Bank Group · 181 countries · 2026World Bank Group1812026
Most affected:Sudan
World Bank Group · 1 edition
Chart and every country The 2026 dataset
Firms Offering Formal TrainingWorld Bank Group · 181 countries · 2026World Bank Group1812026
Current leader:China
World Bank Group · 1 edition
Chart and every country The 2026 dataset
Firms with a Female Top ManagerWorld Bank Group · 179 countries · 2025World Bank Group1792025
Current leader:Kiribati
World Bank Group · 1 edition
Chart and every country The 2025 dataset
GDP per Person EmployedWorld Bank Group · 168 countries · 2025World Bank Group1682025
Current leader:Luxembourg
World Bank Group · 35 editions, data 1991–2025
Chart and every country The 2025 dataset
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Value Added per WorkerWorld Bank Group · 151 countries · 2025World Bank Group1512025
Current leader:Canada
World Bank Group · 35 editions, data 1991–2025
Chart and every country The 2025 dataset
Human Capital Wealth per CapitaWorld Bank Group · 151 countries · 2020World Bank Group1512020
Current leader:Switzerland
World Bank Group · 26 editions, data 1995–2020
Chart and every country The 2020 dataset
Trade Union DensityILO · 139 countries · 2020ILO1392020
Current leader:Iceland
International Labour Organization (ILO) · 1 edition
Chart and every country The 2020 dataset
Working Poverty RateILO · 113 countries · 2025ILO1132025
Most affected:Madagascar
International Labour Organization (ILO) · 26 editions, data 2000–2025
Chart and every country The 2025 dataset
Informal Employment RateILO · 97 countries · 2025ILO972025
Most affected:Madagascar
International Labour Organization (ILO) · 1 edition
Chart and every country The 2025 dataset
Youth Not in Education, Employment or TrainingILO · 97 countries · 2024ILO972024
Most affected:Belarus
International Labour Organization (ILO) · 23 editions, data 2002–2024
Chart and every country The 2024 dataset
Female Share of Senior and Middle ManagementILO · 86 countries · 2024ILO862024
Current leader:Nauru
International Labour Organization (ILO) · 10 editions, data 2014–2024
Chart and every country The 2024 dataset
Labour Inspectors per 10,000 Employed PersonsILO · 86 countries · 2024ILO862024
Current leader:San Marino
International Labour Organization (ILO) · 1 edition
Chart and every country The 2024 dataset
Composite Rate of Labour Underutilisation (LU4)ILO · 76 countries · 2024ILO762024
Most affected:Malawi
International Labour Organization (ILO) · 11 editions, data 2014–2024
Chart and every country The 2024 dataset
Average Monthly Earnings of EmployeesILO · 75 countries · 2024ILO752024
Current leader:Luxembourg
International Labour Organization (ILO) · 22 editions, data 2002–2024
Chart and every country The 2024 dataset
Gini Index of Monthly EarningsILO · 75 countries · 2024ILO752024
Most affected:Lesotho
International Labour Organization (ILO) · 16 editions, data 2009–2024
Chart and every country The 2024 dataset
Low Pay RateILO · 71 countries · 2024ILO712024
Most affected:Tanzania
International Labour Organization (ILO) · 18 editions, data 2006–2024
Chart and every country The 2024 dataset
Fatal Occupational InjuriesILO · 52 countries · 2023ILO522023
Most affected:Türkiye
International Labour Organization (ILO) · 23 editions, data 2000–2023
Chart and every country The 2023 dataset

Describing the shape of a country (8)

These have no better end — more is not better or worse, only different — so they could not place countries even as keys.

Average Weekly Hours WorkedILO · 182 countries · 2025ILO1822025
Highest:Bhutan
International Labour Organization (ILO) · 21 editions, data 2005–2025
Chart and every country The 2025 dataset
Employment in AgricultureILO · 182 countries · 2025ILO1822025
Highest:Burundi
International Labour Organization (ILO) · 35 editions, data 1991–2025
Chart and every country The 2025 dataset
Employment in IndustryILO · 182 countries · 2025ILO1822025
Highest:Oman
International Labour Organization (ILO) · 35 editions, data 1991–2025
Chart and every country The 2025 dataset
Employment in ServicesILO · 182 countries · 2025ILO1822025
Highest:Djibouti
International Labour Organization (ILO) · 35 editions, data 1991–2025
Chart and every country The 2025 dataset
Self-Employment RateILO · 182 countries · 2025ILO1822025
Highest:Chad
International Labour Organization (ILO) · 35 editions, data 1991–2025
Chart and every country The 2025 dataset
Statutory Minimum WageILO · 152 countries · 2024ILO1522024
Highest:Switzerland
International Labour Organization (ILO) · 25 editions, data 2000–2024
Chart and every country The 2024 dataset
Public Sector EmploymentWorld Bank Group · 135 countries · 2022World Bank Group1352022
Highest:Maldives
World Bank Group · 1 edition
Chart and every country The 2022 dataset
Share of Temporary EmployeesILO · 89 countries · 2024ILO892024
Highest:Tanzania
International Labour Organization (ILO) · 18 editions, data 2007–2024
Chart and every country The 2024 dataset

09Analysis

Charts and analysis on work & labour

All charts

10Keep reading

Explore further

All topics

The most-read profiles, on Work & Labour

How Work & Labour relates to the other topics

Moves most with: Economy & InnovationCountries place somewhat similarly on both. (0.59, 167 countries)
Moves most with: Digital & TechnologyCountries place somewhat similarly on both. (0.57, 176 countries)
Moves least with: Environment & SustainabilityCountries placed high on one tend to place low on the other. (-0.32, 174 countries)

Rank correlation of the two topics’ positions across the countries placed on both: 1 means the same order, 0 no link. Every pair of topics

The other topics

The full Country Index 2026

11Method

Questions, method and sources

Which country is placed first on work & labour in the Country Index 2026?

Iceland, of the 182 countries given a standing on Work & Labour. The standing is this site’s own, built from 4 key statistics by 2 publishers; it is not a rank any of those publishers printed.

Which country is placed last on work & labour?

Afghanistan, 182nd of 182. A standing says how a country places against the others measured alongside it, so it moves when they move.

Which statistics decide the Work & Labour standing?

Employment-to-Population Ratio, Labour Income Share, Unemployment Rate, Vulnerable Employment. Each is read at one edition and turned into a place within its own field; the places are averaged with one vote each. The other 34 statistics on this topic are published as context and have no vote.

Why is a country not placed on work & labour?

A country needs readings on at least 2 of the 4 key statistics before it is placed. 42 countries in the Country Index fall short on this topic; every reading the publishers do give for them is still on their profiles.

Are these the publishers’ own rankings?

The underlying numbers and any printed ranks are the publishers’, reproduced without adjustment on each statistic’s page. The standing that combines them is this site’s, and the average it is ordered by is never published — only the position it produces.

How the Work & Labour standing is decided, step by step

A standing is a place in a list, not a mark out of anything. This one is part of the Country Index 2026, and it is worked out like this.

A few key indicators decide it; the rest are context. 4 indicators on this topic are keys and 34 are charted alongside them without a vote. That split is the point: if every statistic voted, importing five more of one kind would quietly change what the topic is about.
Each key is read at one edition. All of them describe 2025.
Every country’s published value is turned into a place within that one key’s own field, and then expressed as a share of that field — how far down this key’s list the country sits, rather than how many countries are above it. Keys where a higher published number is worse (terrorism, hunger, disaster risk) are turned round first, so the good end is always the same end.
Dividing by the field first is the whole reason this works. A place carries the size of its list inside it: 22nd of 44 and 108th of 215 are the same showing, and averaging the numbers 22 and 108 says loudly that they are not. Fields on this site run from about 44 countries to about 215, so averaging raw places would reward a country for happening to be measured in small ones. Dividing each place by its own field removes the size and leaves only the showing.
The shares are averaged, plainly. One key, one vote — no key is weighted above another, because any weighting would be this site’s opinion presented as a measurement. Countries are then put in order by that average, and the average itself is never published. It is our arithmetic with nothing anchoring it, so printing it would invite it to be read as a measurement somebody made. The position it produces, the band, and the keys it was built from are all published instead — every one of them checkable against the tables on this page.
A country needs 2 of this topic’s 4 keys — half, rounded up, and never fewer than 2. A standing built from one reading, printed beside one built from four, is two different things sharing a column heading. 182 countries clear the bar here.
A key has to earn its vote every edition. It must measure at least 120 countries (below that it starts measuring who was surveyed rather than the world), it must not have more than 10% of its field tied at either end, and it must not repeat another key in the same topic — Spearman correlation above 0.92 counts as repeating. A topic needs at least 2 surviving keys to place anyone at all; this one has 4.
A standing is relative, and the grouping is ours. It says where a country places against the others measured alongside it, so it moves when they move. The publishers listed on this page did not agree to be read together, and each measures its subject its own way: the underlying numbers are theirs, the ordering on top is this site’s — the same method as the rest of the Country Index, applied to one subject instead of all of them.

The key statistics and their licences

Employment-to-Population Ratio — International Labour Organization (ILO), CC BY 4.0
Labour Income Share — International Labour Organization (ILO), CC BY 4.0
Unemployment Rate — International Labour Organization (ILO), CC BY 4.0
Vulnerable Employment — International Labour Organization (ILO), CC BY 4.0

The other 34 statistics on this page come from 2 publishers, each named beside its numbers, with every edition and licence on the datasets pages.

The standing itself is part of the Country Index 2026, published under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Photographs

The countries placed highest, from their profiles: Wikimedia Commons, shown in greyscale, each used under the licence named.

Iceland — Hansueli Krapf, CC BY-SA 3.0
Japan — JurriaanH, CC BY-SA 3.0
South Korea — Unknown author, CC BY-SA 2.0

Cite this page

Nations Inquiry (2026). Work & Labour: country standings, Country Index 2026. https://nationsinquiry.com/topics/work