Employment outside the formal sector (current ILO definition - ICLS19) (15+) by country
With the aim of promoting international comparability, statistics presented on ILOSTAT are based on standard international definitions wherever feasible and may differ from official national figures. This series includes only countries for which the 19th ICLS definitions are applied. This harmonized series for...
What the numbers show
Employment outside the formal sector (current ILO definition - ICLS19) (15+) is currently reported for 46 countries. The highest value is 35,415 in Brazil; the lowest is 17.59 in Luxembourg.
The median across all reporting countries is 239.85, and the mean is 2,597.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 2,014.
Over the past decade 24 countries rose and 19 fell. The largest increase was in Croatia (up 265.1%), and the largest decrease in Czechia (down 81.6%).
Employment outside the formal sector (current ILO definition - ICLS19): full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brazil | 35,415 | 2025 | up 8.2% | rising |
| 2 | Viet Nam | 30,440 | 2024 | — | flat |
| 3 | Russian Federation | 14,123 | 2025 | up 5.9% | flat |
| 4 | Angola | 10,183 | 2025 | up 51.1% | rising |
| 5 | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | 6,576 | 2018 | — | rising |
| 6 | Rwanda | 3,799 | 2025 | up 83.1% | rising |
| 7 | Zambia | 2,414 | 2024 | up 50.8% | rising |
| 8 | Italy | 2,091 | 2025 | up 78.8% | rising |
| 9 | Zimbabwe | 1,596 | 2024 | down 21.5% | falling |
| 10 | Chile | 1,563 | 2025 | down 42.6% | falling |
| 11 | El Salvador | 1,363 | 2025 | up 1.6% | flat |
| 12 | Spain | 1,235 | 2025 | down 23.4% | falling |
| 13 | Jordan | 1,115 | 2024 | up 106.2% | rising |
| 14 | France | 1,056 | 2025 | up 47.7% | rising |
| 15 | Panama | 885.98 | 2025 | up 34.9% | rising |
| 16 | Costa Rica | 804.48 | 2025 | up 0.2% | flat |
| 17 | Uruguay | 565.22 | 2025 | up 54.2% | rising |
| 18 | Mongolia | 423.61 | 2025 | down 9.5% | falling |
| 19 | Netherlands | 382.72 | 2025 | down 59.8% | falling |
| 20 | Georgia | 356.6 | 2025 | up 5.8% | rising |
| 21 | Armenia | 334.96 | 2024 | down 19.7% | falling |
| 22 | Botswana | 307.17 | 2024 | up 5.9% | rising |
| 23 | Croatia | 244.08 | 2025 | up 265.1% | volatile |
| 24 | Austria | 235.62 | 2025 | up 121.1% | rising |
| 25 | Portugal | 208.24 | 2025 | down 44.6% | falling |
| 26 | Greece | 161.63 | 2025 | up 71.0% | rising |
| 27 | Czechia | 156.43 | 2025 | down 81.6% | falling |
| 28 | Sweden | 148.16 | 2025 | down 17.7% | rising |
| 29 | Slovakia | 143.64 | 2025 | down 60.6% | falling |
| 30 | Guyana | 138.65 | 2024 | up 40.8% | rising |
| 31 | Belgium | 130.93 | 2025 | down 11.9% | falling |
| 32 | Bulgaria | 124.3 | 2025 | down 40.9% | falling |
| 33 | Republic of Moldova | 107.04 | 2025 | down 33.3% | falling |
| 34 | Switzerland | 95.86 | 2024 | up 37.9% | rising |
| 35 | Ireland | 95.37 | 2025 | up 12.3% | flat |
| 36 | Lithuania | 64.46 | 2025 | up 33.0% | rising |
| 37 | Latvia | 63.41 | 2025 | up 41.2% | rising |
| 38 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 53.62 | 2025 | — | falling |
| 39 | Norway | 52.09 | 2025 | down 60.9% | falling |
| 40 | Cyprus | 39.19 | 2025 | down 32.8% | falling |
| 41 | Denmark | 38.49 | 2025 | down 77.5% | falling |
| 42 | Finland | 38.22 | 2025 | down 80.0% | volatile |
| 43 | Hungary | 35.04 | 2020 | down 67.4% | volatile |
| 44 | Estonia | 29.93 | 2025 | up 55.6% | rising |
| 45 | Slovenia | 28.38 | 2025 | down 25.7% | flat |
| 46 | Luxembourg | 17.59 | 2025 | up 79.4% | rising |
About this data
With the aim of promoting international comparability, statistics presented on ILOSTAT are based on standard international definitions wherever feasible and may differ from official national figures. This series includes only countries for which the 19th ICLS definitions are applied. This harmonized series for employment outside the formal sector is derived using the same set of criteria across countries to improve comparability. The criteria used are based on employment status, institutional sector, destination of production, bookkeeping, registration, social security contribution, places of work and size. For more information, refer to the Work Statistics -- 19th ICLS (WORK) database description.