Persons outside the labour force not seeking employment by willingness to work by country

Countries reporting
35
Highest
18,364
Italy
Lowest
51.4
Iceland
Median
1,570
Years covered
43
1983–2025
Data points
1,168

What the numbers show

Persons outside the labour force not seeking employment by willingness to work is currently reported for 35 countries. The highest value is 18,364 in Italy; the lowest is 51.4 in Iceland.

The median across all reporting countries is 1,570, and the mean is 3,795.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 357.

Over the past decade 6 countries rose and 28 fell. The largest increase was in Iceland (up 37.8%), and the largest decrease in Hungary (down 24.9%).

Persons outside the labour force not seeking employment by: full country ranking

#Country LatestYear 10-year changeTrend
1 Italy 18,364 2025 down 8.1% flat
2 Germany 18,090 2025 down 4.8% falling
3 France 16,710 2025 down 3.8% rising
4 United Kingdom 14,230 2019 up 0.9% rising
5 Spain 12,712 2025 up 7.6% falling
6 Poland 9,811 2025 down 10.4% falling
7 Romania 6,170 2025 up 1.8% flat
8 Belgium 3,202 2025 down 3.0% falling
9 Netherlands 3,073 2025 down 15.2% falling
10 Greece 2,953 2025 down 9.0% falling
11 Portugal 2,529 2025 down 5.5% falling
12 Czechia 2,338 2025 down 19.0% falling
13 Hungary 2,261 2025 down 24.9% falling
14 Austria 2,040 2025 down 4.2% falling
15 Serbia 1,881 2025 down 19.9% falling
16 Bulgaria 1,768 2025 down 19.8% falling
17 Sweden 1,721 2025 down 10.5% falling
18 Switzerland 1,570 2025 up 3.3% rising
19 Slovak Republic 1,377 2025 down 10.3% falling
20 Bosnia and Herzegovina 1,219 2025 falling
21 Finland 1,171 2025 down 11.7% flat
22 Croatia 1,155 2025 down 10.5% falling
23 Ireland 1,123 2025 down 2.3% rising
24 Denmark 1,113 2025 down 18.8% rising
25 Norway 1,076 2025 down 2.3% rising
26 Lithuania 631.7 2025 down 14.1% falling
27 North Macedonia 594.5 2025 down 10.3% falling
28 Slovenia 542.8 2025 down 6.1% falling
29 Latvia 413 2025 down 12.7% falling
30 Estonia 254 2025 down 13.7% falling
31 Montenegro 203 2020 down 9.7% falling
32 Cyprus 201 2025 down 1.9% rising
33 Luxembourg 159.6 2025 up 12.2% rising
34 Malta 119.1 2025 down 13.6% falling
35 Iceland 51.4 2025 up 37.8% rising

Regions and income groups

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

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Persons outside the labour force not seeking employment by by country. Statizoid, drawing on Eurostat. Retrieved 23 August 2026, from https://labour.statizoid.com/stat/persons-outside-the-labour-force-not-seeking-employment-by-willingness-to-work/

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About this data

Indicator
Persons outside the labour force not seeking employment by willingness to work
Source
Eurostat
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Eurostat)
Coverage
38 places, 1,168 data points, 1983–2025
Last refreshed