Informal employment (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
Informal employment (previous ILO definition - ICLS13) is currently reported for 81 countries. The highest value is 415,543 in India; the lowest is 3.46 in Iceland.
The median across all reporting countries is 810.32, and the mean is 12,427.
Over the past decade 49 countries rose and 32 fell. The largest increase was in Croatia (up 262.5%), and the largest decrease in Hungary (down 91.6%).
Informal employment: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | India | 415,543 | 2025 | up 35.2% | rising |
| 2 | Indonesia | 112,752 | 2023 | up 10.4% | rising |
| 3 | Pakistan | 68,857 | 2025 | up 50.6% | rising |
| 4 | Bangladesh | 58,046 | 2024 | up 11.9% | rising |
| 5 | Vietnam | 37,056 | 2024 | down 8.6% | falling |
| 6 | Brazil | 36,489 | 2025 | down 3.1% | falling |
| 7 | Mexico | 34,409 | 2026 | up 16.5% | rising |
| 8 | Thailand | 25,292 | 2024 | down 13.2% | falling |
| 9 | Egypt | 22,421 | 2024 | up 62.3% | rising |
| 10 | Myanmar | 17,978 | 2020 | up 0.3% | flat |
| 11 | Uganda | 16,978 | 2021 | up 41.8% | rising |
| 12 | Russia | 14,123 | 2025 | up 5.9% | rising |
| 13 | Colombia | 13,346 | 2025 | up 1.2% | rising |
| 14 | Angola | 13,214 | 2025 | up 130.8% | rising |
| 15 | Peru | 12,568 | 2025 | up 7.3% | flat |
| 16 | Turkey | 8,660 | 2025 | down 6.5% | falling |
| 17 | Argentina | 7,081 | 2025 | up 35.1% | rising |
| 18 | Mali | 6,468 | 2024 | up 19.6% | rising |
| 19 | United Kingdom | 6,359 | 2018 | up 19.0% | rising |
| 20 | South Africa | 5,963 | 2024 | up 21.3% | rising |
| 21 | Zambia | 5,921 | 2024 | up 30.2% | rising |
| 22 | Rwanda | 5,779 | 2025 | up 83.6% | rising |
| 23 | Guatemala | 5,758 | 2024 | up 21.7% | rising |
| 24 | Ecuador | 5,702 | 2025 | up 37.0% | rising |
| 25 | Sri Lanka | 5,275 | 2024 | up 1.9% | flat |
| 26 | Bolivia | 4,485 | 2025 | up 9.2% | rising |
| 27 | Zimbabwe | 4,236 | 2024 | down 22.2% | falling |
| 28 | Senegal | 4,164 | 2024 | up 33.1% | rising |
| 29 | Honduras | 3,030 | 2017 | up 58.7% | rising |
| 30 | Dominican Republic | 2,750 | 2025 | up 18.8% | flat |
| 31 | Chile | 2,483 | 2025 | down 21.3% | falling |
| 32 | Italy | 2,071 | 2025 | up 141.0% | volatile |
| 33 | Paraguay | 2,054 | 2025 | down 10.7% | falling |
| 34 | El Salvador | 1,903 | 2025 | up 3.3% | flat |
| 35 | Poland | 1,828 | 2025 | down 12.5% | falling |
| 36 | Jordan | 1,550 | 2024 | up 63.6% | rising |
| 37 | Kyrgyzstan | 1,492 | 2023 | up 23.6% | rising |
| 38 | Georgia | 1,116 | 2025 | up 28.7% | rising |
| 39 | Panama | 1,097 | 2025 | up 32.3% | rising |
| 40 | France | 939.59 | 2025 | down 42.4% | falling |
| 41 | Spain | 810.32 | 2025 | down 9.8% | flat |
| 42 | Costa Rica | 805.39 | 2025 | down 10.4% | rising |
| 43 | Moldova | 780.66 | 2025 | down 19.9% | rising |
| 44 | Armenia | 770.36 | 2017 | up 49.3% | rising |
| 45 | Botswana | 651.5 | 2024 | up 12.7% | rising |
| 46 | Uruguay | 577.13 | 2025 | up 46.7% | falling |
| 47 | Serbia | 525.59 | 2025 | down 8.0% | falling |
| 48 | Mongolia | 509.42 | 2025 | down 10.4% | rising |
| 49 | Netherlands | 424.51 | 2025 | down 54.8% | falling |
| 50 | Namibia | 402.1 | 2018 | up 25.4% | rising |
| 51 | Palestine | 351.31 | 2025 | down 32.2% | falling |
| 52 | Croatia | 243.9 | 2025 | up 262.5% | volatile |
| 53 | Austria | 220.02 | 2025 | up 200.1% | rising |
| 54 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 188.88 | 2025 | down 23.7% | falling |
| 55 | Guyana | 184.16 | 2024 | up 36.9% | rising |
| 56 | Greece | 177.06 | 2025 | up 20.6% | falling |
| 57 | Czechia | 163.54 | 2025 | down 80.5% | falling |
| 58 | Slovakia | 162.87 | 2025 | down 54.1% | falling |
| 59 | Sweden | 143.53 | 2025 | down 18.4% | falling |
| 60 | Mauritius | 128.3 | 2024 | down 55.7% | falling |
| 61 | Belgium | 119.45 | 2025 | up 1.9% | falling |
| 62 | Portugal | 117.99 | 2025 | down 55.9% | falling |
| 63 | Bulgaria | 108.21 | 2025 | down 47.4% | falling |
| 64 | Ireland | 86.47 | 2025 | up 26.2% | falling |
| 65 | North Macedonia | 83.72 | 2025 | down 38.4% | falling |
| 66 | Norway | 81.1 | 2025 | down 37.5% | falling |
| 67 | Latvia | 69.24 | 2025 | up 68.2% | rising |
| 68 | Lithuania | 62.04 | 2025 | up 23.4% | rising |
| 69 | Denmark | 59.02 | 2025 | down 76.1% | falling |
| 70 | Switzerland | 49.1 | 2024 | up 37.7% | volatile |
| 71 | Brunei | 47.7 | 2024 | down 24.5% | falling |
| 72 | Hungary | 37.73 | 2020 | down 91.6% | volatile |
| 73 | Estonia | 34.88 | 2025 | up 126.3% | volatile |
| 74 | Finland | 34.62 | 2025 | down 80.4% | falling |
| 75 | Slovenia | 31.38 | 2025 | down 21.5% | rising |
| 76 | Saint Lucia | 29.4 | 2025 | up 12.9% | rising |
| 77 | Grenada | 25.14 | 2023 | up 11.8% | volatile |
| 78 | Seychelles | 17.96 | 2025 | up 145.9% | rising |
| 79 | Cyprus | 14.17 | 2025 | down 66.4% | falling |
| 80 | Luxembourg | 14.07 | 2025 | up 247.6% | volatile |
| 81 | Iceland | 3.46 | 2020 | down 15.6% | 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 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. 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.