Employment outside the formal sector (previous ILO definition - ICLS13) (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 is based on the 13th ICLS definitions. For time series comparability, it includes countries that have...
What the numbers show
Employment outside the formal sector (previous ILO definition - ICLS13) (15+) is currently reported for 44 countries. The highest value is 380,944 in India; the lowest is 11.57 in Seychelles.
The median across all reporting countries is 3,945, and the mean is 17,421.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 32,931.
Over the past decade 29 countries rose and 14 fell. The largest increase was in Jordan (up 105.0%), and the largest decrease in North Macedonia (down 52.6%).
Employment outside the formal sector (previous ILO definition): full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | India | 380,944 | 2025 | up 16.9% | rising |
| 2 | Pakistan | 63,448 | 2025 | up 49.2% | rising |
| 3 | Bangladesh | 48,589 | 2024 | up 10.0% | rising |
| 4 | Brazil | 35,415 | 2025 | up 8.4% | rising |
| 5 | Viet Nam | 34,282 | 2024 | down 2.5% | flat |
| 6 | Mexico | 29,009 | 2026 | up 26.6% | rising |
| 7 | Egypt | 22,172 | 2024 | up 63.4% | rising |
| 8 | Thailand | 18,727 | 2024 | down 15.3% | falling |
| 9 | Uganda | 16,788 | 2021 | up 42.9% | rising |
| 10 | Myanmar | 14,990 | 2020 | down 2.1% | flat |
| 11 | Angola | 11,270 | 2025 | up 37.4% | rising |
| 12 | Colombia | 11,146 | 2025 | — | falling |
| 13 | Peru | 10,045 | 2025 | up 5.5% | flat |
| 14 | Türkiye | 8,344 | 2025 | down 6.0% | falling |
| 15 | Argentina | 6,913 | 2025 | up 35.5% | rising |
| 16 | Mali | 5,788 | 2024 | up 13.5% | rising |
| 17 | Zambia | 5,597 | 2024 | up 32.3% | rising |
| 18 | Rwanda | 5,401 | 2025 | up 92.8% | rising |
| 19 | Guatemala | 5,092 | 2024 | up 21.3% | rising |
| 20 | Ecuador | 4,774 | 2025 | up 38.9% | rising |
| 21 | Sri Lanka | 4,660 | 2024 | up 2.6% | flat |
| 22 | Bolivia, Plurinational State of | 4,081 | 2025 | up 20.9% | rising |
| 23 | Zimbabwe | 3,810 | 2024 | down 9.0% | flat |
| 24 | Senegal | 3,625 | 2024 | up 32.7% | rising |
| 25 | Dominican Republic | 2,500 | 2025 | up 20.6% | rising |
| 26 | El Salvador | 1,709 | 2025 | up 0.9% | flat |
| 27 | Jordan | 1,114 | 2023 | up 105.0% | rising |
| 28 | Kyrgyzstan | 1,008 | 2023 | down 16.5% | falling |
| 29 | Panama | 885.98 | 2025 | up 36.7% | rising |
| 30 | Costa Rica | 804.48 | 2025 | down 6.5% | falling |
| 31 | Georgia | 754.99 | 2025 | down 1.2% | flat |
| 32 | Uruguay | 570.13 | 2025 | up 56.2% | falling |
| 33 | Mongolia | 432.55 | 2025 | down 21.9% | rising |
| 34 | Botswana | 409.12 | 2024 | up 14.5% | rising |
| 35 | Namibia | 396.12 | 2018 | up 28.7% | rising |
| 36 | Serbia | 309.77 | 2019 | up 5.9% | rising |
| 37 | Palestine, State of | 207.07 | 2025 | down 32.6% | falling |
| 38 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 144.76 | 2025 | down 35.2% | falling |
| 39 | Guyana | 143.15 | 2024 | up 34.1% | rising |
| 40 | Mauritius | 124.1 | 2024 | down 42.5% | falling |
| 41 | North Macedonia | 51.43 | 2025 | down 52.6% | falling |
| 42 | Grenada | 22.43 | 2023 | up 16.9% | volatile |
| 43 | Brunei Darussalam | 12.11 | 2024 | down 43.3% | falling |
| 44 | Seychelles | 11.57 | 2025 | up 82.7% | 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 is based on the 13th ICLS definitions. For time series comparability, it includes countries that have implemented the 19th ICLS standards, for which data are also available in the Work Statistics -- 19th ICLS (WORK) database. 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 Labour Force Statistics (LFS and STLFS) database description.