Informal employment in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe: Informal employment was 4,236 in 2024. ▼ Falling

Latest (2024)
4,236
Change on year
down 12.9%
World rank
27th
of 81 countries
All-time high
5,447
in 2014
All-time low
4,236
in 2024
Years of data
7
2011–2024

Informal employment in Zimbabwe, 2011–2024

02.0k4.0k6.0k2011201720242011: 4.6k2014: 5.4k2019: 4.3k2021: 4.7k2022: 4.8k2023: 4.9k2024: 4.2k

Source: International Labour Organization.

Analysis

The most recent figure for informal employment in Zimbabwe is 4,236, measured in 2024. That is the lowest value across all 7 years on record.

That represents a change of down 12.9% on the previous year and down 22.2% over ten years.

Over the whole period, informal employment in Zimbabwe peaked at 5,447 in 2014 and was at its lowest, 4,236, in 2024.

Zimbabwe ranks 27th of 81 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.

Informal employment in Zimbabwe, year by year

Annual values for Informal employment (previous ILO definition - ICLS13) in Zimbabwe, 2011 to 2024.
Year Value Change
2011 4,650
2014 5,447 +17.1%
2019 4,346 -20.2%
2021 4,695 +8.0%
2022 4,760 +1.4%
2023 4,862 +2.1%
2024 4,236 -12.9%

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
2010s 4,814 4,346 5,447 3
2020s 4,638 4,236 4,862 4

Countries ranked near Zimbabwe

  1. 24 Ecuador 5,702 compare
  2. 25 Sri Lanka 5,275 compare
  3. 26 Bolivia, Plurinational State of 4,485 compare
  4. 28 Senegal 4,164 compare
  5. 29 Honduras 3,030 compare
  6. 30 Dominican Republic 2,750 compare

See the full ranking of 81 places →

More work & labour data for Zimbabwe

All data for Zimbabwe →

Frequently asked questions

What is informal employment in Zimbabwe?
Informal employment in Zimbabwe was 4,236 in 2024, according to International Labour Organization.
What is the highest informal employment recorded in Zimbabwe?
The highest recorded value was 5,447 in 2014.
What is the lowest informal employment recorded in Zimbabwe?
The lowest recorded value was 4,236 in 2024.
How does Zimbabwe rank for informal employment?
Zimbabwe ranks 27th out of 81 countries with data for 2024.
Is informal employment rising or falling in Zimbabwe?
Over the last ten years it is down 22.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
Where does this Zimbabwe 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 — 7 observations, free to reuse under ILO Terms of Use (attribution required).

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Informal employment in Zimbabwe. Statizoid, drawing on International Labour Organization. Retrieved 30 August 2026, from https://labour.statizoid.com/stat/informal-employment-previous-ilo-definition-icls13/zimbabwe/

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/zimbabwe/">Informal employment in Zimbabwe</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.