Informal employment (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
Informal employment (current ILO definition - ICLS19) (15+) is currently reported for 47 countries. The highest value is 36,489 in Brazil; the lowest is 14.07 in Luxembourg.
The median across all reporting countries is 243.9, and the mean is 2,732.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 2,593.
Over the past decade 22 countries rose and 21 fell. The largest increase was in Croatia (up 262.5%), and the largest decrease in Czechia (down 80.5%).
Informal employment (current ILO definition - ICLS19): full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brazil | 36,489 | 2025 | down 3.1% | flat |
| 2 | Viet Nam | 33,214 | 2024 | — | flat |
| 3 | Russian Federation | 14,123 | 2025 | up 5.9% | flat |
| 4 | Angola | 12,106 | 2025 | up 60.2% | rising |
| 5 | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | 6,359 | 2018 | — | rising |
| 6 | Rwanda | 4,177 | 2025 | up 72.6% | rising |
| 7 | Zambia | 2,737 | 2024 | up 43.2% | rising |
| 8 | Chile | 2,458 | 2025 | down 21.8% | falling |
| 9 | Italy | 2,071 | 2025 | up 141.0% | rising |
| 10 | Zimbabwe | 2,016 | 2024 | down 12.3% | falling |
| 11 | El Salvador | 1,557 | 2025 | up 4.7% | flat |
| 12 | Jordan | 1,549 | 2024 | up 63.9% | rising |
| 13 | Panama | 1,097 | 2025 | up 32.3% | rising |
| 14 | France | 939.59 | 2025 | down 42.4% | falling |
| 15 | Spain | 810.32 | 2025 | down 9.8% | flat |
| 16 | Costa Rica | 805.39 | 2025 | down 10.4% | falling |
| 17 | Georgia | 717.24 | 2025 | up 45.7% | rising |
| 18 | Uruguay | 572.22 | 2025 | up 46.9% | rising |
| 19 | Botswana | 549.55 | 2024 | up 7.5% | rising |
| 20 | Mongolia | 500.48 | 2025 | down 8.5% | falling |
| 21 | Netherlands | 424.51 | 2025 | down 54.8% | falling |
| 22 | Armenia | 376.73 | 2024 | down 20.3% | falling |
| 23 | Serbia | 328.32 | 2025 | — | falling |
| 24 | Croatia | 243.9 | 2025 | up 262.5% | volatile |
| 25 | Austria | 220.02 | 2025 | up 200.1% | rising |
| 26 | Guyana | 179.62 | 2024 | up 42.3% | rising |
| 27 | Greece | 177.06 | 2025 | up 20.6% | flat |
| 28 | Czechia | 163.54 | 2025 | down 80.5% | falling |
| 29 | Slovakia | 162.87 | 2025 | down 54.1% | falling |
| 30 | Sweden | 143.53 | 2025 | down 18.4% | rising |
| 31 | Republic of Moldova | 138.25 | 2025 | down 34.9% | falling |
| 32 | Belgium | 119.45 | 2025 | up 1.9% | falling |
| 33 | Portugal | 117.99 | 2025 | down 55.9% | falling |
| 34 | Bulgaria | 108.21 | 2025 | down 47.4% | falling |
| 35 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 97.73 | 2025 | — | falling |
| 36 | Ireland | 86.47 | 2025 | up 26.2% | flat |
| 37 | Norway | 81.1 | 2025 | down 37.5% | falling |
| 38 | Latvia | 69.24 | 2025 | up 68.2% | rising |
| 39 | Lithuania | 62.04 | 2025 | up 23.4% | rising |
| 40 | Denmark | 59.02 | 2025 | down 76.1% | falling |
| 41 | Switzerland | 49.1 | 2024 | up 37.7% | rising |
| 42 | Hungary | 37.73 | 2020 | down 65.0% | volatile |
| 43 | Estonia | 34.88 | 2025 | up 126.3% | volatile |
| 44 | Finland | 34.62 | 2025 | down 80.4% | volatile |
| 45 | Slovenia | 31.38 | 2025 | down 21.5% | rising |
| 46 | Cyprus | 14.17 | 2025 | down 66.4% | falling |
| 47 | Luxembourg | 14.07 | 2025 | up 247.6% | volatile |
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 informal employment 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.