Employment outside the formal sector (previous ILO definition - ICLS13) 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) is currently reported for 81 countries. The highest value is 380,944 in India; the lowest is 4.08 in Iceland.
The median across all reporting countries is 800.81, and the mean is 10,933.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 93,277.
Over the past decade 48 countries rose and 33 fell. The largest increase was in Croatia (up 265.1%), and the largest decrease in Hungary (down 91.9%).
Employment outside the formal sector: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | India | 380,944 | 2025 | up 36.5% | rising |
| 2 | Indonesia | 77,991 | 2023 | down 16.4% | falling |
| 3 | Pakistan | 63,448 | 2025 | up 49.2% | rising |
| 4 | Bangladesh | 48,589 | 2024 | up 10.0% | rising |
| 5 | Brazil | 35,415 | 2025 | up 8.2% | flat |
| 6 | Viet Nam | 34,282 | 2024 | down 2.5% | flat |
| 7 | Mexico | 29,009 | 2026 | up 26.6% | rising |
| 8 | Egypt | 22,172 | 2024 | up 63.4% | rising |
| 9 | Thailand | 18,727 | 2024 | down 15.3% | falling |
| 10 | Uganda | 16,788 | 2021 | up 42.9% | rising |
| 11 | Myanmar | 14,990 | 2020 | down 2.1% | flat |
| 12 | Russian Federation | 14,123 | 2025 | up 5.9% | rising |
| 13 | Angola | 11,270 | 2025 | up 118.5% | rising |
| 14 | Colombia | 11,146 | 2025 | down 9.9% | flat |
| 15 | Peru | 10,045 | 2025 | up 5.5% | flat |
| 16 | Türkiye | 8,344 | 2025 | down 6.0% | falling |
| 17 | Argentina | 6,913 | 2025 | up 35.5% | rising |
| 18 | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | 6,576 | 2018 | up 25.2% | rising |
| 19 | Mali | 5,788 | 2024 | up 13.5% | rising |
| 20 | Zambia | 5,597 | 2024 | up 32.3% | rising |
| 21 | Rwanda | 5,401 | 2025 | up 92.8% | rising |
| 22 | South Africa | 5,255 | 2024 | up 23.9% | rising |
| 23 | Guatemala | 5,092 | 2024 | up 21.3% | rising |
| 24 | Ecuador | 4,774 | 2025 | up 38.9% | rising |
| 25 | Sri Lanka | 4,660 | 2024 | up 2.6% | flat |
| 26 | Bolivia, Plurinational State of | 4,081 | 2025 | up 20.9% | rising |
| 27 | Zimbabwe | 3,810 | 2024 | down 22.6% | falling |
| 28 | Senegal | 3,625 | 2024 | up 28.5% | rising |
| 29 | Honduras | 2,937 | 2017 | up 57.8% | rising |
| 30 | Dominican Republic | 2,500 | 2025 | up 20.6% | rising |
| 31 | Italy | 2,091 | 2025 | up 78.8% | rising |
| 32 | El Salvador | 1,709 | 2025 | up 0.9% | flat |
| 33 | Chile | 1,587 | 2025 | down 41.8% | falling |
| 34 | Paraguay | 1,422 | 2025 | down 18.0% | falling |
| 35 | Spain | 1,235 | 2025 | down 23.4% | rising |
| 36 | Jordan | 1,116 | 2024 | up 105.5% | rising |
| 37 | France | 1,056 | 2025 | up 47.7% | rising |
| 38 | Kyrgyzstan | 1,008 | 2023 | down 16.5% | falling |
| 39 | Panama | 885.98 | 2025 | up 34.9% | rising |
| 40 | Costa Rica | 804.48 | 2025 | up 0.2% | rising |
| 41 | Poland | 800.81 | 2025 | down 42.3% | falling |
| 42 | Georgia | 754.99 | 2025 | down 1.2% | flat |
| 43 | Republic of Moldova | 749.45 | 2025 | down 18.8% | rising |
| 44 | Armenia | 662.79 | 2017 | up 29.4% | rising |
| 45 | Uruguay | 570.13 | 2025 | up 56.2% | falling |
| 46 | Mongolia | 432.55 | 2025 | down 21.9% | rising |
| 47 | Botswana | 409.12 | 2024 | up 14.5% | rising |
| 48 | Namibia | 396.12 | 2018 | up 28.7% | rising |
| 49 | Netherlands | 382.72 | 2025 | down 59.8% | falling |
| 50 | Serbia | 332.47 | 2025 | up 17.1% | falling |
| 51 | Croatia | 244.08 | 2025 | up 265.1% | volatile |
| 52 | Austria | 235.62 | 2025 | up 121.1% | rising |
| 53 | Portugal | 208.24 | 2025 | down 44.6% | flat |
| 54 | Palestine, State of | 207.07 | 2025 | down 32.6% | falling |
| 55 | Greece | 161.63 | 2025 | up 71.0% | rising |
| 56 | Czechia | 156.43 | 2025 | down 81.6% | falling |
| 57 | Sweden | 148.16 | 2025 | down 17.7% | rising |
| 58 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 144.76 | 2025 | down 35.2% | falling |
| 59 | Slovakia | 143.64 | 2025 | down 60.6% | falling |
| 60 | Guyana | 143.15 | 2024 | up 34.1% | rising |
| 61 | Belgium | 130.93 | 2025 | down 11.9% | flat |
| 62 | Bulgaria | 124.3 | 2025 | down 40.9% | falling |
| 63 | Mauritius | 124.1 | 2024 | down 42.5% | falling |
| 64 | Switzerland | 95.86 | 2024 | up 37.9% | flat |
| 65 | Ireland | 95.37 | 2025 | up 12.3% | falling |
| 66 | Lithuania | 64.46 | 2025 | up 33.0% | rising |
| 67 | Latvia | 63.41 | 2025 | up 41.2% | rising |
| 68 | Norway | 52.09 | 2025 | down 60.9% | falling |
| 69 | North Macedonia | 51.43 | 2025 | down 52.6% | falling |
| 70 | Cyprus | 39.19 | 2025 | down 32.8% | falling |
| 71 | Denmark | 38.49 | 2025 | down 77.5% | falling |
| 72 | Finland | 38.22 | 2025 | down 80.0% | falling |
| 73 | Hungary | 35.04 | 2020 | down 91.9% | volatile |
| 74 | Estonia | 29.93 | 2025 | up 55.6% | rising |
| 75 | Slovenia | 28.38 | 2025 | down 25.7% | rising |
| 76 | Saint Lucia | 28.37 | 2025 | up 14.4% | rising |
| 77 | Grenada | 22.43 | 2023 | up 16.9% | volatile |
| 78 | Luxembourg | 17.59 | 2025 | up 79.4% | volatile |
| 79 | Brunei Darussalam | 12.11 | 2024 | down 43.3% | falling |
| 80 | Seychelles | 11.57 | 2025 | up 82.7% | rising |
| 81 | Iceland | 4.08 | 2020 | up 7.2% | falling |
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. Data disaggregated by occupation are provided according to the latest version of the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO). Data may have been regrouped from the national classifications, which may not be strictly compatible with ISCO. For more information, refer to the Labour Force Statistics (LFS and STLFS) database description.