Statizoid

Own-account workers, total (% of total employment) by country

Countries reporting
186
Highest
84.7%
Burundi
Lowest
0.1%
Qatar
Median
25.1%
Years covered
26
1991–2016
Data points
5,537

What the numbers show

Own-account workers, total (% of total employment) is currently reported for 186 countries. The highest value is 84.7% in Burundi; the lowest is 0.1% in Qatar.

The median across all reporting countries is 25.1%, and the mean is 27.7%.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 580.

Over the past decade 81 countries rose and 105 fell. The largest increase was in Bhutan (up 170.2%), and the largest decrease in United Arab Emirates (down 72.7%).

Own-account workers, total: full country ranking

#Country LatestYear 10-year changeTrend
1 Burundi 84.7% 2016 down 1.6% flat
2 Haiti 83.9% 2016 up 0.3% flat
3 Sierra Leone 82.0% 2016 up 0.5% rising
4 Benin 72.6% 2016 down 4.2% falling
5 Rwanda 71.3% 2016 down 7.3% rising
6 Nigeria 71.2% 2016 up 0.4% flat
7 Somalia 71.1% 2016 down 1.2% flat
8 Congo 70.4% 2016 up 0.6% falling
9 Cameroon 70.3% 2016 up 1.4% rising
10 Central African Republic 64.6% 2016 down 10.4% flat
11 India 64.3% 2016 down 0.6% flat
12 Vanuatu 63.9% 2016 down 0.0% flat
13 Guinea-Bissau 63.4% 2016 up 2.1% falling
14 Liberia 62.5% 2016 up 0.8% flat
15 Togo 62.1% 2016 up 11.0% rising
16 Chad 61.6% 2016 up 5.1% falling
17 Cote d'Ivoire 59.1% 2016 up 1.5% flat
18 Niger 59.0% 2016 down 9.0% rising
19 Uganda 58.0% 2016 up 1.1% falling
20 Zimbabwe 57.1% 2016 down 8.6% rising
21 Gambia 56.8% 2016 down 5.7% rising
22 Guinea 56.6% 2016 up 0.3% flat
23 Angola 56.2% 2016 down 1.4% flat
24 Lesotho 53.1% 2016 down 2.2% falling
25 Mali 53.0% 2016 up 6.0% falling
26 Malawi 52.7% 2016 down 6.3% falling
27 Laos 50.6% 2016 up 5.3% flat
28 Mozambique 50.5% 2016 down 2.9% falling
29 Comoros 50.3% 2016 down 3.5% falling
30 Papua New Guinea 48.5% 2016 up 9.3% rising
31 Tanzania 47.7% 2016 down 37.3% falling
32 Tajikistan 47.7% 2016 up 1.6% rising
33 Burkina Faso 44.1% 2016 down 9.2% rising
34 Mongolia 44.0% 2016 up 27.9% rising
35 Bangladesh 43.7% 2016 up 1.9% falling
36 Colombia 43.5% 2016 up 16.7% rising
37 Ghana 42.9% 2016 down 31.9% falling
38 Zambia 42.7% 2016 down 6.3% rising
39 Madagascar 42.2% 2016 up 3.2% falling
40 Dominican Republic 40.0% 2016 up 1.5% rising
41 Afghanistan 39.9% 2016 down 5.8% flat
42 Vietnam 39.9% 2016 down 12.3% rising
43 Mauritania 38.9% 2016 up 15.4% falling
44 Democratic Republic of Congo 38.5% 2016 up 2.4% falling
45 Bhutan 37.9% 2016 up 170.2% rising
46 Nepal 36.9% 2016 up 0.4% falling
47 Jamaica 36.8% 2016 up 7.2% flat
48 Eritrea 36.6% 2016 down 19.4% falling
49 Tonga 36.3% 2016 down 2.0% rising
50 Myanmar 36.2% 2016 down 3.4% flat
51 Pakistan 36.1% 2016 up 2.5% falling
52 Iran 36.1% 2016 up 10.1% falling
53 Peru 36.0% 2016 up 6.2% flat
54 Senegal 35.8% 2016 up 1.4% falling
55 Sao Tome and Principe 33.8% 2016 down 10.4% falling
56 Indonesia 33.8% 2016 down 17.6% falling
57 Armenia 33.8% 2016 up 31.3% rising
58 Ecuador 33.2% 2016 up 24.4% rising
59 Georgia 32.8% 2016 down 3.7% rising
60 Cambodia 32.2% 2016 down 16.4% falling
61 Thailand 32.0% 2016 up 0.9% rising
62 Syria 32.0% 2016 up 22.4% flat
63 Ethiopia 31.9% 2016 down 21.5% falling
64 Sri Lanka 31.8% 2016 up 2.1% rising
65 Paraguay 31.6% 2016 down 14.1% falling
66 Gabon 31.3% 2016 up 3.2% falling
67 Palestine 31.0% 2016 down 4.7% falling
68 East Timor 31.0% 2016 down 15.7% flat
69 Nicaragua 30.8% 2016 down 9.3% falling
70 Samoa 30.3% 2016 up 33.2% rising
71 Solomon Islands 29.9% 2016 down 0.1% flat
72 Yemen 29.2% 2016 up 7.7% falling
73 Morocco 29.2% 2016 up 15.9% rising
74 El Salvador 28.9% 2016 up 2.8% rising
75 Honduras 28.6% 2016 down 25.8% falling
76 Cape Verde 28.6% 2016 down 6.5% falling
77 Sudan 28.4% 2016 down 1.0% falling
78 Saint Lucia 28.0% 2016 down 3.3% rising
79 North Korea 28.0% 2016 up 0.0% rising
80 Venezuela 27.8% 2016 down 0.4% flat
81 Panama 27.4% 2016 up 1.8% falling
82 Kyrgyzstan 27.4% 2016 down 20.4% falling
83 Equatorial Guinea 27.3% 2016 up 3.2% falling
84 Philippines 27.0% 2016 down 14.4% falling
85 Albania 26.9% 2016 down 23.0% falling
86 Moldova 26.8% 2016 up 2.9% rising
87 Djibouti 26.6% 2016 down 9.6% falling
88 Algeria 26.5% 2016 down 0.5% rising
89 Bolivia 26.4% 2016 down 2.3% flat
90 Guatemala 26.2% 2016 down 15.6% falling
91 Guyana 25.8% 2016 up 3.6% flat
92 Libya 25.8% 2016 up 12.8% falling
93 Brazil 25.2% 2016 up 13.4% falling
94 Kazakhstan 25.0% 2016 down 23.2% falling
95 China 25.0% 2016 down 5.0% falling
96 Fiji 24.5% 2016 down 0.1% flat
97 United States Virgin Islands 23.6% 2016 up 1.2% falling
98 Guam 23.3% 2016 down 5.4% falling
99 Uruguay 22.9% 2016 down 0.8% flat
100 Greece 22.8% 2016 up 6.1% falling
101 Mexico 22.3% 2016 down 3.3% falling
102 Belize 22.3% 2016 up 15.6% flat
103 Lebanon 22.2% 2016 down 6.4% falling
104 Iraq 21.8% 2016 down 3.0% falling
105 Azerbaijan 21.6% 2016 down 37.0% falling
106 Namibia 21.4% 2016 down 34.8% rising
107 North Macedonia 20.6% 2016 down 10.6% rising
108 Chile 20.4% 2016 down 15.2% falling
109 Argentina 20.3% 2016 up 5.0% falling
110 South Korea 20.0% 2016 down 21.2% falling
111 Serbia 20.0% 2016 up 27.9% rising
112 Uzbekistan 19.5% 2016 down 7.5% falling
113 Kenya 19.3% 2016 up 49.8% falling
114 Eswatini 18.4% 2016 down 2.5% falling
115 Malaysia 17.8% 2016 up 5.2% falling
116 Tunisia 17.7% 2016 down 26.2% falling
117 South Sudan 17.6% 2016 up 7.0% rising
118 Romania 17.0% 2016 down 10.9% falling
119 Turkey 16.6% 2016 down 25.3% falling
120 Bosnia and Herzegovina 16.5% 2016 down 8.0% rising
121 Maldives 16.4% 2016 down 9.5% volatile
122 Turkmenistan 16.2% 2016 up 0.7% falling
123 Trinidad and Tobago 16.2% 2016 up 1.2% falling
124 Italy 16.1% 2016 down 7.7% rising
125 Barbados 15.8% 2016 down 1.9% rising
126 Ukraine 15.3% 2016 up 4.4% rising
127 Puerto Rico 14.4% 2016 up 12.0% rising
128 Bahamas 14.3% 2016 up 12.6% rising
129 Poland 14.1% 2016 down 11.1% falling
130 Mauritius 14.0% 2016 down 1.5% flat
131 Costa Rica 13.9% 2016 down 28.5% falling
132 Czechia 13.5% 2016 up 18.3% rising
133 French Polynesia 13.0% 2016 down 3.2% falling
134 United Kingdom 12.7% 2016 up 26.6% rising
135 Portugal 12.4% 2016 down 31.5% falling
136 Netherlands 12.4% 2016 up 48.0% rising
137 Israel 12.2% 2016 up 57.8% rising
138 Slovakia 12.1% 2016 up 27.9% rising
139 Egypt 12.1% 2016 up 3.2% flat
140 Botswana 11.8% 2016 up 62.5% volatile
141 Spain 11.5% 2016 up 4.5% falling
142 Ireland 11.5% 2016 up 12.7% falling
143 Cyprus 11.3% 2016 down 13.5% falling
144 New Zealand 11.3% 2016 down 0.5% falling
145 Suriname 11.3% 2016 down 4.7% falling
146 Australia 10.7% 2016 down 7.1% falling
147 Canada 10.6% 2016 up 6.9% rising
148 Cuba 10.2% 2016 down 8.4% rising
149 Belgium 9.9% 2016 up 11.5% falling
150 Finland 9.5% 2016 up 14.1% falling
151 Montenegro 9.3% 2016 down 48.8% flat
152 Jordan 9.2% 2016 down 2.4% falling
153 South Africa 9.1% 2016 down 23.5% falling
154 Lithuania 9.1% 2016 down 24.5% falling
155 Malta 8.9% 2016 down 5.1% flat
156 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 8.5% 2016 down 3.8% falling
157 New Caledonia 8.4% 2016 up 4.6% falling
158 Oman 8.4% 2016 down 6.3% falling
159 Slovenia 8.2% 2016 up 5.5% flat
160 Singapore 7.9% 2016 down 15.8% rising
161 Iceland 7.9% 2016 down 15.6% falling
162 Latvia 7.8% 2016 up 15.3% flat
163 Bulgaria 7.6% 2016 down 4.6% falling
164 Croatia 7.3% 2016 down 53.4% flat
165 France 7.2% 2016 up 19.9% falling
166 Switzerland 7.1% 2016 down 4.9% falling
167 Austria 6.7% 2016 down 2.0% rising
168 Japan 6.2% 2016 down 36.2% falling
169 United States 6.1% 2016 down 13.3% falling
170 Sweden 6.1% 2016 down 6.6% falling
171 Russia 5.8% 2016 down 2.9% rising
172 Hong Kong 5.6% 2016 down 21.4% rising
173 Germany 5.6% 2016 down 10.1% rising
174 Hungary 5.5% 2016 down 18.6% falling
175 Estonia 5.5% 2016 up 3.7% rising
176 Luxembourg 5.3% 2016 up 6.2% rising
177 Norway 5.0% 2016 down 18.1% falling
178 Denmark 4.9% 2016 up 11.2% rising
179 Brunei 4.5% 2016 up 12.9% rising
180 Macao 3.1% 2016 down 32.9% falling
181 Saudi Arabia 3.0% 2016 down 36.5% falling
182 Belarus 2.5% 2016 up 13.0% rising
183 Kuwait 1.9% 2016 down 10.6% flat
184 Bahrain 1.5% 2016 down 7.7% falling
185 United Arab Emirates 0.3% 2016 down 72.7% falling
186 Qatar 0.1% 2016 down 8.8% volatile

Regions and income groups

Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Own-account workers, total by country. Statizoid. Retrieved 29 August 2026, from https://labour.statizoid.com/stat/own-account-workers-total-percent-of-total-employment/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://labour.statizoid.com/stat/own-account-workers-total-percent-of-total-employment/">Own-account workers, total by country</a> β€” Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Own-account workers, total (% of total employment)
Unit
% of total employment
Source
World Bank
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage
213 places, 5,537 data points, 1991–2016
Last refreshed