Informal employment in Russia
Russia: Informal employment was 14,123 in 2025. ▲ Rising
Informal employment in Russia, 2010–2025
Source: International Labour Organization.
Analysis
Russia recorded 14,123 for informal employment in 2025.
That represents a change of down 0.2% on the previous year and up 5.9% over ten years.
Over the whole period, informal employment in Russia peaked at 14,157 in 2024 and was at its lowest, 10,087, in 2010.
That places Russia 12th out of 81 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 16 years of available data.
Informal employment in Russia, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 10,087 | — |
| 2011 | 11,405 | +13.1% |
| 2012 | 12,133 | +6.4% |
| 2013 | 12,702 | +4.7% |
| 2014 | 12,933 | +1.8% |
| 2015 | 13,335 | +3.1% |
| 2016 | 13,608 | +2.1% |
| 2017 | 13,160 | -3.3% |
| 2018 | 13,420 | +2.0% |
| 2019 | 13,514 | +0.7% |
| 2020 | 12,899 | -4.6% |
| 2021 | 13,388 | +3.8% |
| 2022 | 12,587 | -6.0% |
| 2023 | 12,654 | +0.5% |
| 2024 | 14,157 | +11.9% |
| 2025 | 14,123 | -0.2% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 12,630 | 10,087 | 13,608 | 10 |
| 2020s | 13,301 | 12,587 | 14,157 | 6 |
Countries ranked near Russia
More work & labour data for Russia
- Persons outside the labour force (ILO modelled estimates) 48,131 (2027)
- Labour force participation rate (ILO modelled estimates) 59.78 (2027)
- Labour force (ILO modelled estimates) 71,526 (2027)
- Employment-to-population ratio (ILO modelled estimates) 58.68 (2027)
- Persons outside the labour force (ILO modelled estimates) (15+) 1.81 % change on previous year (2027)
- Labour force (ILO modelled estimates) (15+), annual growth rate -0.8326 % change on previous year (2027)
- Legislation on sexual harassment in employment 0 (1=yes; 0=no) (2023)
- Criminal sanctions or compensation for workplace sexual harassment 0 (1=yes; 0=no) (2023)
- Women can take the same jobs as men 1 (1=yes; 0=no) (2023)
- Labor force participation rate, total (% of total population ages 15+) 61.1% (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is informal employment in Russia?
- Informal employment in Russia was 14,123 in 2025, according to International Labour Organization.
- What is the highest informal employment recorded in Russia?
- The highest recorded value was 14,157 in 2024.
- What is the lowest informal employment recorded in Russia?
- The lowest recorded value was 10,087 in 2010.
- How does Russia rank for informal employment?
- Russia ranks 12th out of 81 countries with data for 2025.
- Is informal employment rising or falling in Russia?
- Over the last ten years it is up 5.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Russia 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 — 16 observations, free to reuse under ILO Terms of Use (attribution required).
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.