Informal employment in Bangladesh

Bangladesh: Informal employment was 58,046 in 2024. ▲ Rising

Latest (2024)
58,046
Change on year
down 2.8%
World rank
4th
of 81 countries
All-time high
59,800
in 2022
All-time low
46,730
in 2010
Years of data
6
2010–2024

Informal employment in Bangladesh, 2010–2024

020.0k40.0k60.0k2010201720242010: 46.7k2013: 51.9k2017: 57.4k2022: 59.8k2023: 59.7k2024: 58.0k

Source: International Labour Organization.

Analysis

In 2024, informal employment in Bangladesh stood at 58,046.

The figure is down 2.8% on the previous year and up 11.9% over ten years.

Over the whole period, informal employment in Bangladesh peaked at 59,800 in 2022 and was at its lowest, 46,730, in 2010.

That places Bangladesh 4th out of 81 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the top 10%.

Informal employment in Bangladesh, year by year

Annual values for Informal employment (previous ILO definition - ICLS13) in Bangladesh, 2010 to 2024.
Year Value Change
2010 46,730
2013 51,863 +11.0%
2017 57,399 +10.7%
2022 59,800 +4.2%
2023 59,725 -0.1%
2024 58,046 -2.8%

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
2010s 51,997 46,730 57,399 3
2020s 59,190 58,046 59,800 3

Countries ranked near Bangladesh

  1. 1 India 415,543 compare
  2. 2 Indonesia 112,752 compare
  3. 3 Pakistan 68,857 compare
  4. 5 Viet Nam 37,056 compare
  5. 6 Brazil 36,489 compare
  6. 7 Mexico 34,409 compare

See the full ranking of 81 places →

More work & labour data for Bangladesh

All data for Bangladesh →

Frequently asked questions

What is informal employment in Bangladesh?
Informal employment in Bangladesh was 58,046 in 2024, according to International Labour Organization.
What is the highest informal employment recorded in Bangladesh?
The highest recorded value was 59,800 in 2022.
What is the lowest informal employment recorded in Bangladesh?
The lowest recorded value was 46,730 in 2010.
How does Bangladesh rank for informal employment?
Bangladesh ranks 4th out of 81 countries with data for 2024.
Is informal employment rising or falling in Bangladesh?
Over the last ten years it is up 11.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Bangladesh data come from?
The figures come from International Labour Organization, published as part of Informal employment (previous ILO definition - ICLS13). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 6 observations, free to reuse under ILO Terms of Use (attribution required).

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Informal employment in Bangladesh. Statizoid, drawing on International Labour Organization. Retrieved 29 August 2026, from https://labour.statizoid.com/stat/informal-employment-previous-ilo-definition-icls13/bangladesh/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under ILO Terms of Use (attribution required); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://labour.statizoid.com/stat/informal-employment-previous-ilo-definition-icls13/bangladesh/">Informal employment in Bangladesh</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Informal employment (previous ILO definition - ICLS13)
Source
International Labour Organization
Licence
ILO Terms of Use (attribution required)
Coverage
81 places, 1,202 data points, 1999–2026
Last refreshed

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.