Informal employment (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
Informal employment (previous ILO definition - ICLS13) (15+) is currently reported for 44 countries. The highest value is 415,543 in India; the lowest is 17.96 in Seychelles.
The median across all reporting countries is 4,360, and the mean is 19,321.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 23,135.
Over the past decade 32 countries rose and 11 fell. The largest increase was in Seychelles (up 145.9%), and the largest decrease in Mauritius (down 55.7%).
Informal employment (previous ILO definition - ICLS13): full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | India | 415,543 | 2025 | up 17.0% | rising |
| 2 | Pakistan | 68,857 | 2025 | up 50.6% | rising |
| 3 | Bangladesh | 58,046 | 2024 | up 11.9% | rising |
| 4 | Viet Nam | 37,056 | 2024 | down 8.6% | falling |
| 5 | Brazil | 36,489 | 2025 | up 9.6% | rising |
| 6 | Mexico | 34,409 | 2026 | up 16.5% | rising |
| 7 | Thailand | 25,292 | 2024 | down 13.2% | falling |
| 8 | Egypt | 22,421 | 2024 | up 62.3% | rising |
| 9 | Myanmar | 17,978 | 2020 | up 0.3% | flat |
| 10 | Uganda | 16,978 | 2021 | up 41.8% | rising |
| 11 | Colombia | 13,346 | 2025 | — | flat |
| 12 | Angola | 13,214 | 2025 | up 46.4% | rising |
| 13 | Peru | 12,568 | 2025 | up 7.3% | rising |
| 14 | Türkiye | 8,660 | 2025 | down 6.5% | falling |
| 15 | Argentina | 7,081 | 2025 | up 35.1% | rising |
| 16 | Mali | 6,468 | 2024 | up 19.6% | rising |
| 17 | Zambia | 5,921 | 2024 | up 30.2% | rising |
| 18 | Rwanda | 5,779 | 2025 | up 83.6% | rising |
| 19 | Guatemala | 5,758 | 2024 | up 21.7% | rising |
| 20 | Ecuador | 5,702 | 2025 | up 37.0% | rising |
| 21 | Sri Lanka | 5,275 | 2024 | up 1.9% | flat |
| 22 | Bolivia, Plurinational State of | 4,485 | 2025 | up 9.2% | rising |
| 23 | Zimbabwe | 4,236 | 2024 | down 8.9% | flat |
| 24 | Senegal | 4,164 | 2024 | up 28.6% | rising |
| 25 | Dominican Republic | 2,750 | 2025 | up 18.8% | rising |
| 26 | El Salvador | 1,903 | 2025 | up 3.3% | flat |
| 27 | Jordan | 1,518 | 2023 | up 60.2% | rising |
| 28 | Kyrgyzstan | 1,492 | 2023 | up 23.6% | rising |
| 29 | Georgia | 1,116 | 2025 | up 28.7% | rising |
| 30 | Panama | 1,097 | 2025 | up 34.8% | rising |
| 31 | Costa Rica | 805.39 | 2025 | down 6.7% | falling |
| 32 | Botswana | 651.5 | 2024 | up 12.7% | rising |
| 33 | Uruguay | 577.13 | 2025 | up 46.7% | falling |
| 34 | Serbia | 541.72 | 2019 | up 16.7% | rising |
| 35 | Mongolia | 509.42 | 2025 | down 10.4% | rising |
| 36 | Namibia | 402.1 | 2018 | up 25.4% | rising |
| 37 | Palestine, State of | 351.31 | 2025 | down 32.2% | falling |
| 38 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 188.88 | 2025 | down 23.7% | falling |
| 39 | Guyana | 184.16 | 2024 | up 36.9% | rising |
| 40 | Mauritius | 128.3 | 2024 | down 55.7% | falling |
| 41 | North Macedonia | 83.72 | 2025 | down 38.4% | falling |
| 42 | Brunei Darussalam | 47.7 | 2024 | down 24.5% | falling |
| 43 | Grenada | 25.14 | 2023 | up 11.8% | volatile |
| 44 | Seychelles | 17.96 | 2025 | up 145.9% | 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 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 Labour Force Statistics (LFS and STLFS) database description.