Public sector employees 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
Public sector employees is currently reported for 64 countries. The highest value is 8,173 in Brazil; the lowest is 10.4 in Grenada.
The median across all reporting countries is 623.73, and the mean is 1,651.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 786.
Over the past decade 43 countries rose and 19 fell. The largest increase was in Ghana (up 307.7%), and the largest decrease in Palestine (down 38.1%).
Public sector employees: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brazil | 8,173 | 2001 | up 8.9% | rising |
| 2 | United Kingdom | 8,168 | 2025 | up 18.2% | rising |
| 3 | Mexico | 5,908 | 2026 | down 1.8% | rising |
| 4 | France | 5,852 | 2024 | up 4.7% | rising |
| 5 | Pakistan | 5,340 | 2025 | up 29.7% | rising |
| 6 | Egypt | 5,264 | 2024 | down 16.6% | falling |
| 7 | Japan | 5,263 | 2023 | up 7.5% | falling |
| 8 | Turkey | 5,156 | 2025 | up 54.7% | rising |
| 9 | Canada | 4,549 | 2025 | up 29.4% | rising |
| 10 | Vietnam | 4,305 | 2024 | down 20.8% | rising |
| 11 | Philippines | 4,289 | 2023 | up 41.2% | rising |
| 12 | Poland | 4,198 | 2025 | up 9.3% | falling |
| 13 | Australia | 3,649 | 2021 | up 25.0% | rising |
| 14 | Spain | 3,549 | 2025 | up 19.3% | rising |
| 15 | South Africa | 2,776 | 2024 | up 3.4% | rising |
| 16 | Ghana | 2,686 | 2024 | up 307.7% | volatile |
| 17 | Bangladesh | 2,526 | 2024 | down 7.5% | flat |
| 18 | Argentina | 2,123 | 2025 | up 11.7% | rising |
| 19 | Peru | 1,517 | 2022 | up 1.2% | rising |
| 20 | Tanzania | 1,299 | 2024 | up 56.5% | rising |
| 21 | Myanmar | 1,201 | 2020 | down 8.0% | falling |
| 22 | Sri Lanka | 1,149 | 2024 | down 3.2% | rising |
| 23 | Angola | 1,045 | 2025 | up 12.3% | rising |
| 24 | Chile | 904.42 | 2025 | down 3.9% | rising |
| 25 | Colombia | 873.39 | 2025 | up 3.9% | falling |
| 26 | Switzerland | 803.01 | 2025 | up 13.9% | rising |
| 27 | Greece | 795.69 | 2020 | down 18.3% | rising |
| 28 | Slovakia | 755.5 | 2023 | up 19.3% | rising |
| 29 | Dominican Republic | 731.2 | 2025 | up 33.2% | rising |
| 30 | Serbia | 719.18 | 2020 | up 2.8% | flat |
| 31 | United Arab Emirates | 658.25 | 2024 | down 14.3% | falling |
| 32 | Jordan | 640.37 | 2024 | up 3.4% | flat |
| 33 | Uganda | 607.09 | 2021 | up 64.3% | rising |
| 34 | Zambia | 605.39 | 2024 | up 90.3% | rising |
| 35 | Guatemala | 505.43 | 2024 | up 28.7% | rising |
| 36 | Kyrgyzstan | 500.57 | 2023 | up 20.0% | rising |
| 37 | Bolivia | 442.31 | 2025 | down 0.2% | rising |
| 38 | Zimbabwe | 430.16 | 2024 | up 25.7% | rising |
| 39 | Cote d'Ivoire | 339.16 | 2019 | up 93.8% | rising |
| 40 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 338.17 | 2024 | up 34.6% | rising |
| 41 | Georgia | 336.93 | 2025 | up 18.7% | rising |
| 42 | Senegal | 329.17 | 2024 | up 20.5% | rising |
| 43 | Costa Rica | 329.07 | 2025 | up 14.4% | flat |
| 44 | Panama | 323.46 | 2025 | — | rising |
| 45 | Paraguay | 322.25 | 2025 | down 11.2% | rising |
| 46 | Rwanda | 319 | 2025 | up 138.0% | rising |
| 47 | Mongolia | 282.32 | 2025 | down 2.7% | flat |
| 48 | El Salvador | 266.24 | 2025 | up 30.8% | rising |
| 49 | Austria | 253.58 | 2025 | down 34.4% | falling |
| 50 | Moldova | 237.93 | 2025 | down 8.0% | falling |
| 51 | Montenegro | 232.44 | 2024 | up 228.6% | volatile |
| 52 | Armenia | 230.37 | 2023 | down 8.8% | falling |
| 53 | Singapore | 225.04 | 2025 | — | falling |
| 54 | Mali | 220.56 | 2024 | up 47.7% | rising |
| 55 | Albania | 177.93 | 2024 | up 2.2% | flat |
| 56 | North Macedonia | 163.66 | 2025 | up 3.7% | rising |
| 57 | Jamaica | 159.37 | 2023 | up 10.5% | rising |
| 58 | Botswana | 146.26 | 2024 | down 6.4% | falling |
| 59 | Palestine | 141.26 | 2025 | down 38.1% | falling |
| 60 | Namibia | 117.76 | 2018 | up 10.2% | flat |
| 61 | Kosovo | 109.04 | 2024 | up 8.2% | rising |
| 62 | Seychelles | 79.9 | 2025 | up 297.1% | volatile |
| 63 | New Caledonia | 25.7 | 2023 | down 13.6% | rising |
| 64 | Grenada | 10.4 | 2023 | down 10.8% | volatile |
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. Employees are all those workers who hold paid employment jobs, which are those where the incumbents hold employment contracts which give them a basic remuneration not directly dependent upon the revenue of the unit for which they work. Type of job contract refers to permanent versus temporary (i.e. short-term or casual) contracts. For more information, refer to the Worker and Sector Profiles (PROF) database description.