Informal employment rate (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 rate (previous ILO definition - ICLS13) (15+) is currently reported for 44 countries. The highest value is 94.49 in Angola; the lowest is 8.91 in Seychelles.
The median across all reporting countries is 59.97, and the mean is 58.92.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 11.
Over the past decade 16 countries rose and 27 fell. The largest increase was in Uruguay (up 37.0%), and the largest decrease in Mauritius (down 57.0%).
Informal employment rate (previous ILO definition - ICLS13): full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Angola | 94.49 | 2025 | up 7.3% | rising |
| 2 | Uganda | 94.48 | 2021 | down 2.2% | flat |
| 3 | Mali | 92.77 | 2024 | down 1.7% | flat |
| 4 | Rwanda | 90.06 | 2025 | up 7.0% | flat |
| 5 | Senegal | 89.22 | 2024 | up 2.6% | flat |
| 6 | Pakistan | 88.69 | 2025 | up 7.2% | rising |
| 7 | India | 87.2 | 2025 | down 3.1% | flat |
| 8 | Bolivia, Plurinational State of | 85.61 | 2025 | up 2.1% | flat |
| 9 | Zimbabwe | 85 | 2024 | down 0.7% | flat |
| 10 | Bangladesh | 84.04 | 2024 | down 5.9% | falling |
| 11 | Zambia | 82.73 | 2024 | down 1.4% | flat |
| 12 | Myanmar | 80.71 | 2020 | down 1.8% | flat |
| 13 | Guatemala | 75.93 | 2024 | down 2.7% | flat |
| 14 | Botswana | 75.58 | 2024 | up 6.5% | rising |
| 15 | Peru | 70.46 | 2025 | up 1.8% | falling |
| 16 | Egypt | 68.61 | 2024 | up 19.1% | rising |
| 17 | Ecuador | 68.45 | 2025 | up 17.6% | rising |
| 18 | Viet Nam | 67.03 | 2024 | down 12.8% | falling |
| 19 | Sri Lanka | 66.35 | 2024 | down 4.1% | falling |
| 20 | El Salvador | 63.63 | 2025 | down 7.8% | falling |
| 21 | Thailand | 63.17 | 2024 | down 16.7% | falling |
| 22 | Georgia | 62.39 | 2025 | up 21.7% | rising |
| 23 | Kyrgyzstan | 57.55 | 2023 | up 4.1% | rising |
| 24 | Mexico | 56.68 | 2026 | down 2.4% | falling |
| 25 | Colombia | 56.01 | 2025 | — | falling |
| 26 | Panama | 55.73 | 2025 | up 16.1% | rising |
| 27 | Namibia | 55.64 | 2018 | up 8.0% | rising |
| 28 | Jordan | 55.12 | 2023 | up 23.3% | rising |
| 29 | Dominican Republic | 53.5 | 2025 | down 4.9% | flat |
| 30 | Argentina | 52.82 | 2025 | up 11.3% | rising |
| 31 | Guyana | 49.44 | 2024 | down 5.6% | falling |
| 32 | Palestine, State of | 48.8 | 2025 | down 12.6% | falling |
| 33 | Grenada | 48.05 | 2023 | down 2.3% | falling |
| 34 | Mongolia | 37.24 | 2025 | down 24.6% | falling |
| 35 | Costa Rica | 36.11 | 2025 | down 11.3% | falling |
| 36 | Brazil | 35.62 | 2025 | down 3.5% | flat |
| 37 | Uruguay | 32.7 | 2025 | up 37.0% | falling |
| 38 | Türkiye | 26.59 | 2025 | down 23.6% | falling |
| 39 | Mauritius | 23.45 | 2024 | down 57.0% | falling |
| 40 | Brunei Darussalam | 21.39 | 2024 | down 35.4% | falling |
| 41 | Serbia | 18.68 | 2019 | down 9.3% | flat |
| 42 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 14.1 | 2025 | down 53.2% | falling |
| 43 | North Macedonia | 11.96 | 2025 | down 38.1% | falling |
| 44 | Seychelles | 8.91 | 2025 | down 40.8% | 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 economic activity are provided according to the latest version of the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC) available for that year. Data may have been regrouped from national classifications, which may not be strictly compatible with ISIC. For more information, refer to the Labour Force Statistics (LFS and STLFS) database description.