Potential labour force and willing non-jobseekers (previous ILO definition - ICLS13) 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
Potential labour force and willing non-jobseekers (previous ILO definition - ICLS13) is currently reported for 70 countries. The highest value is 8,674 in Brazil; the lowest is 1.34 in Barbados.
The median across all reporting countries is 194.04, and the mean is 764.16.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 6,482.
Over the past decade 21 countries rose and 44 fell. The largest increase was in Rwanda (up 917.3%), and the largest decrease in Albania (down 85.4%).
Potential labour force and willing non-jobseekers: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brazil | 8,674 | 2025 | up 22.1% | rising |
| 2 | South Africa | 4,170 | 2024 | up 29.3% | rising |
| 3 | Angola | 3,569 | 2025 | up 55.3% | rising |
| 4 | Russian Federation | 3,210 | 2025 | down 17.8% | falling |
| 5 | Senegal | 3,158 | 2024 | up 55.0% | rising |
| 6 | Germany | 2,890 | 2024 | up 46.6% | rising |
| 7 | Italy | 2,665 | 2024 | down 37.4% | rising |
| 8 | United States of America | 2,491 | 2025 | down 0.0% | rising |
| 9 | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | 2,180 | 2025 | down 10.4% | falling |
| 10 | Guatemala | 2,030 | 2024 | up 341.8% | volatile |
| 11 | France | 1,862 | 2024 | up 29.7% | rising |
| 12 | Chile | 1,673 | 2025 | down 34.9% | falling |
| 13 | Colombia | 1,668 | 2025 | down 42.0% | falling |
| 14 | Spain | 1,394 | 2025 | down 4.1% | rising |
| 15 | Philippines | 1,340 | 2023 | down 24.5% | rising |
| 16 | Netherlands | 1,096 | 2024 | up 57.3% | rising |
| 17 | Rwanda | 795.31 | 2025 | up 917.3% | rising |
| 18 | Zimbabwe | 757.19 | 2024 | down 25.7% | falling |
| 19 | Poland | 587.23 | 2024 | down 65.8% | falling |
| 20 | Canada | 569.64 | 2025 | up 6.3% | rising |
| 21 | Switzerland | 500.82 | 2025 | — | volatile |
| 22 | Sweden | 436.01 | 2024 | up 74.0% | rising |
| 23 | Austria | 355.1 | 2025 | down 25.2% | rising |
| 24 | Honduras | 343.35 | 2025 | down 77.1% | volatile |
| 25 | Myanmar | 297.45 | 2020 | down 29.2% | falling |
| 26 | Kyrgyzstan | 285.46 | 2023 | down 45.9% | falling |
| 27 | Georgia | 260.89 | 2025 | up 53.9% | rising |
| 28 | Romania | 246.44 | 2024 | down 63.8% | falling |
| 29 | Mali | 239.34 | 2024 | up 5.2% | volatile |
| 30 | Ireland | 234.47 | 2024 | up 110.2% | rising |
| 31 | Norway | 222.4 | 2024 | up 64.6% | rising |
| 32 | Belarus | 213.04 | 2024 | down 39.9% | falling |
| 33 | Belgium | 211.28 | 2024 | down 17.9% | rising |
| 34 | Finland | 204.72 | 2024 | down 7.8% | flat |
| 35 | Denmark | 198.44 | 2024 | down 8.4% | rising |
| 36 | Armenia | 189.64 | 2017 | up 40.3% | rising |
| 37 | Portugal | 181.54 | 2024 | down 56.6% | volatile |
| 38 | Kosovo | 174.61 | 2024 | down 39.4% | falling |
| 39 | Greece | 170.65 | 2025 | down 17.3% | rising |
| 40 | Jordan | 144.27 | 2024 | down 34.4% | falling |
| 41 | Viet Nam | 143.77 | 2024 | — | volatile |
| 42 | Serbia | 137.77 | 2025 | down 72.9% | falling |
| 43 | El Salvador | 123.87 | 2025 | down 4.9% | flat |
| 44 | Hungary | 110.71 | 2024 | down 66.8% | falling |
| 45 | Czechia | 107.05 | 2024 | down 27.2% | falling |
| 46 | Bulgaria | 100.53 | 2024 | down 63.9% | falling |
| 47 | Uruguay | 84.33 | 2025 | — | flat |
| 48 | Mongolia | 82.3 | 2025 | down 21.8% | falling |
| 49 | Singapore | 71.97 | 2025 | — | falling |
| 50 | Croatia | 66.16 | 2024 | — | falling |
| 51 | Slovakia | 61.66 | 2023 | down 43.1% | rising |
| 52 | North Macedonia | 59.55 | 2025 | down 16.7% | falling |
| 53 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 54.34 | 2025 | down 73.5% | volatile |
| 54 | Estonia | 53.36 | 2024 | up 5.3% | falling |
| 55 | Guyana | 50.95 | 2024 | down 20.9% | falling |
| 56 | Latvia | 46.81 | 2024 | down 48.7% | falling |
| 57 | Albania | 44.96 | 2024 | down 85.4% | falling |
| 58 | Lithuania | 42.75 | 2024 | up 13.7% | falling |
| 59 | Luxembourg | 30.72 | 2024 | up 9.9% | volatile |
| 60 | Palestine, State of | 28.52 | 2025 | down 81.0% | falling |
| 61 | Slovenia | 23.15 | 2024 | down 73.3% | falling |
| 62 | Republic of Moldova | 19.05 | 2025 | up 147.3% | volatile |
| 63 | Cyprus | 13.79 | 2024 | down 51.0% | rising |
| 64 | Iceland | 12.11 | 2023 | down 4.2% | rising |
| 65 | Mauritius | 10.06 | 2024 | down 21.3% | falling |
| 66 | Brunei Darussalam | 7.5 | 2024 | down 67.4% | falling |
| 67 | Seychelles | 5.92 | 2025 | up 281.6% | volatile |
| 68 | Malta | 5.37 | 2024 | down 70.6% | falling |
| 69 | Saint Lucia | 2.38 | 2025 | down 62.6% | falling |
| 70 | Barbados | 1.34 | 2024 | down 44.4% | falling |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- World 224,727
- G20 180,997
- World excluding India and China 165,645
- World excluding BRICS 123,203
- BRICS 101,228
- Asia and the Pacific 90,260
- World: Upper-middle income 84,690
- World: Lower-middle income 76,264
- Africa 67,168
- APEC 62,554
- Sub-Saharan Africa 57,792
- World: Upper-middle income excluding China 53,225
- World: Lower-middle income excluding India 48,647
- Asia and the Pacific: Upper-middle income 45,973
- Southern Asia 41,050
- Asia and the Pacific: Lower-middle income 38,212
- Southern Asia: Lower-middle income 35,228
- Eastern Asia 34,780
- World: Low income 33,107
- Africa: Lower-middle income 33,069
- Americas 31,989
- Eastern Asia: Upper-middle income 31,540
- World: High income 30,666
- Latin America and the Caribbean 28,899
- Europe and Central Asia 27,376
- Sub-Saharan Africa: Lower-middle income 27,184
- Africa: Low income 26,480
- Sub-Saharan Africa: Low income 25,131
- Eastern Africa 24,083
- Americas: Upper-middle income 23,283
- Latin America and the Caribbean: Upper-middle income 23,283
- MENA 20,738
- Europe and Central Asia: High income 19,816
- South America 18,860
- Arab League 18,522
- Western Africa 17,702
- European Union 28 15,781
- Northern, Southern and Western Europe 15,311
- Northern, Southern and Western Europe: High income 14,959
- South-Eastern Asia and the Pacific 14,429
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 potential labour force and willing non-jobseekers includes those who have been recently searching for a job but are not available to work within a short reference period, those who have not searched recently for a job, but they are available to work within a short reference period, and finally those who do not fall in neither of the previous categories but that wanted employment. For more information, refer to the Labour Force Statistics (LFS and STLFS) database description.