Jobs gap 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
Jobs gap is currently reported for 70 countries. The highest value is 15,019 in Brazil; the lowest is 2.81 in Seychelles.
The median across all reporting countries is 403.74, and the mean is 1,507.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 5,335.
Over the past decade 18 countries rose and 47 fell. The largest increase was in Rwanda (up 709.9%), and the largest decrease in Honduras (down 71.7%).
Jobs gap: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brazil | 15,019 | 2025 | down 4.2% | rising |
| 2 | South Africa | 12,334 | 2024 | up 48.6% | rising |
| 3 | United States of America | 9,805 | 2025 | down 9.1% | rising |
| 4 | Angola | 5,191 | 2025 | up 20.4% | rising |
| 5 | Russian Federation | 4,813 | 2025 | down 40.5% | falling |
| 6 | Germany | 4,381 | 2024 | up 7.8% | falling |
| 7 | Italy | 4,329 | 2024 | down 42.3% | rising |
| 8 | France | 4,193 | 2024 | down 5.9% | rising |
| 9 | Spain | 4,002 | 2025 | down 38.5% | rising |
| 10 | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | 3,936 | 2025 | down 7.7% | falling |
| 11 | Colombia | 3,860 | 2025 | down 20.1% | flat |
| 12 | Senegal | 3,444 | 2024 | up 50.8% | rising |
| 13 | Chile | 2,592 | 2025 | down 27.2% | falling |
| 14 | Philippines | 2,498 | 2023 | down 20.9% | rising |
| 15 | Guatemala | 2,408 | 2025 | up 289.6% | volatile |
| 16 | Canada | 2,109 | 2025 | up 12.3% | rising |
| 17 | Netherlands | 1,469 | 2024 | up 8.2% | rising |
| 18 | Zimbabwe | 1,445 | 2024 | up 2.3% | flat |
| 19 | Rwanda | 1,159 | 2025 | up 709.9% | rising |
| 20 | Poland | 1,099 | 2024 | down 66.6% | falling |
| 21 | Viet Nam | 1,002 | 2024 | — | falling |
| 22 | Sweden | 916.37 | 2024 | up 38.2% | rising |
| 23 | Switzerland | 749.36 | 2025 | — | volatile |
| 24 | Jordan | 721.71 | 2024 | up 4.7% | rising |
| 25 | Romania | 697.4 | 2024 | down 46.7% | falling |
| 26 | Myanmar | 631.22 | 2020 | up 7.3% | falling |
| 27 | Austria | 631.07 | 2025 | down 13.6% | rising |
| 28 | Greece | 591.42 | 2025 | down 57.7% | rising |
| 29 | Mali | 567.91 | 2024 | down 8.0% | falling |
| 30 | Honduras | 551.1 | 2025 | down 71.7% | falling |
| 31 | Portugal | 532.69 | 2024 | down 53.4% | rising |
| 32 | Belgium | 517.87 | 2024 | down 23.9% | rising |
| 33 | Finland | 443.09 | 2024 | down 2.4% | falling |
| 34 | Georgia | 420.52 | 2025 | up 7.7% | flat |
| 35 | Armenia | 407.29 | 2017 | up 54.0% | rising |
| 36 | Denmark | 400.18 | 2024 | down 3.5% | rising |
| 37 | Kyrgyzstan | 379.41 | 2023 | down 42.1% | falling |
| 38 | Serbia | 379.29 | 2025 | down 64.3% | falling |
| 39 | Belarus | 363.45 | 2024 | down 43.9% | falling |
| 40 | Ireland | 363.37 | 2024 | down 4.1% | rising |
| 41 | Norway | 343 | 2024 | up 49.2% | rising |
| 42 | Hungary | 331.11 | 2024 | down 51.0% | falling |
| 43 | Palestine, State of | 318.44 | 2025 | down 25.5% | falling |
| 44 | Czechia | 245.82 | 2024 | down 47.8% | falling |
| 45 | Bulgaria | 227.98 | 2024 | down 65.6% | falling |
| 46 | Kosovo | 226.11 | 2024 | down 51.4% | falling |
| 47 | Uruguay | 224.13 | 2025 | — | rising |
| 48 | Slovakia | 223.56 | 2023 | down 54.8% | falling |
| 49 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 215.42 | 2025 | down 58.6% | falling |
| 50 | El Salvador | 213.97 | 2025 | down 22.1% | falling |
| 51 | Mongolia | 160.5 | 2025 | down 31.2% | falling |
| 52 | Croatia | 155.39 | 2024 | — | falling |
| 53 | Lithuania | 154.54 | 2024 | down 21.0% | falling |
| 54 | Albania | 153.2 | 2024 | down 71.3% | falling |
| 55 | Singapore | 151.93 | 2025 | — | falling |
| 56 | North Macedonia | 150.78 | 2025 | down 53.4% | falling |
| 57 | Latvia | 112.14 | 2024 | down 43.6% | falling |
| 58 | Estonia | 110.42 | 2024 | up 10.2% | falling |
| 59 | Guyana | 77.18 | 2024 | down 26.5% | falling |
| 60 | Slovenia | 61.48 | 2024 | down 66.7% | falling |
| 61 | Luxembourg | 52.94 | 2024 | up 20.4% | volatile |
| 62 | Mauritius | 40.14 | 2024 | down 27.8% | falling |
| 63 | Cyprus | 38.7 | 2024 | down 60.8% | rising |
| 64 | Republic of Moldova | 37.31 | 2025 | up 1.2% | volatile |
| 65 | Iceland | 20.14 | 2023 | down 10.4% | rising |
| 66 | Brunei Darussalam | 18.91 | 2024 | down 49.0% | falling |
| 67 | Malta | 15.84 | 2024 | down 46.9% | falling |
| 68 | Saint Lucia | 10.72 | 2025 | down 49.9% | falling |
| 69 | Barbados | 9.46 | 2024 | down 42.1% | falling |
| 70 | Seychelles | 2.81 | 2025 | down 7.2% | falling |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- World 411,622
- G20 329,749
- World excluding India and China 289,680
- World excluding BRICS 218,932
- BRICS 192,254
- Asia and the Pacific 178,993
- World: Upper-middle income 163,591
- World: Lower-middle income 135,842
- APEC 124,473
- Africa 107,472
- World: Upper-middle income excluding China 96,382
- Sub-Saharan Africa 90,149
- Asia and the Pacific: Upper-middle income 89,913
- World: Lower-middle income excluding India 81,110
- Southern Asia 80,901
- Asia and the Pacific: Lower-middle income 77,079
- Eastern Asia 74,293
- Southern Asia: Lower-middle income 71,208
- Eastern Asia: Upper-middle income 67,362
- World: High income 63,006
- Americas 58,371
- Europe and Central Asia 52,091
- Africa: Lower-middle income 50,054
- World: Low income 49,183
- Latin America and the Caribbean 45,788
- Sub-Saharan Africa: Lower-middle income 39,776
- Africa: Low income 38,106
- MENA 37,971
- Americas: Upper-middle income 37,148
- Latin America and the Caribbean: Upper-middle income 37,148
- Europe and Central Asia: High income 36,189
- Sub-Saharan Africa: Low income 35,346
- Eastern Africa 34,410
- Arab League 34,144
- G7 31,731
- South America 31,642
- European Union 28 30,257
- Northern, Southern and Western Europe 29,114
- Northern, Southern and Western Europe: High income 28,094
- European Union 27 26,426
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. The jobs gap is defined as the sum of the unemployed, the potential labour force and willing non-jobseekers. For more information, refer to the Labour Force Statistics (LFS and STLFS) database description.