Self-employed, total (% of total employment) in East Timor
East Timor: Self-employed, total (% of total employment) was 74.9% in 2025. ▼ Falling
Self-employed, total (% of total employment) in East Timor, 1991–2025
Source: ILO Modelled Estimates database (ILOEST), International Labour Organization (ILO).
Analysis
East Timor recorded 74.9% for self-employed, total (% of total employment) in 2025.
That represents a change of down 0.3% on the previous year and down 0.6% over ten years.
Over the whole period, self-employed, total (% of total employment) in East Timor peaked at 81.7% in 1991 and was at its lowest, 74.6%, in 2019.
That places East Timor 29th out of 186 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 35 years of available data.
Self-employed, total (% of total employment) in East Timor, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 81.7% | — |
| 1992 | 81.3% | -0.4% |
| 1993 | 80.9% | -0.5% |
| 1994 | 80.6% | -0.4% |
| 1995 | 80.2% | -0.4% |
| 1996 | 79.9% | -0.4% |
| 1997 | 79.6% | -0.4% |
| 1998 | 79.5% | -0.1% |
| 1999 | 79.2% | -0.3% |
| 2000 | 78.8% | -0.5% |
| 2001 | 78.4% | -0.5% |
| 2002 | 78.2% | -0.2% |
| 2003 | 78.1% | -0.0% |
| 2004 | 78.1% | -0.0% |
| 2005 | 78.1% | -0.1% |
| 2006 | 78.1% | +0.0% |
| 2007 | 78.0% | -0.1% |
| 2008 | 77.7% | -0.3% |
| 2009 | 77.4% | -0.4% |
| 2010 | 77.1% | -0.5% |
| 2011 | 76.6% | -0.6% |
| 2012 | 76.3% | -0.5% |
| 2013 | 75.9% | -0.5% |
| 2014 | 75.6% | -0.4% |
| 2015 | 75.3% | -0.4% |
| 2016 | 75.1% | -0.3% |
| 2017 | 75.0% | -0.1% |
| 2018 | 75.0% | -0.0% |
| 2019 | 74.6% | -0.6% |
| 2020 | 75.2% | +0.9% |
| 2021 | 74.8% | -0.6% |
| 2022 | 74.7% | -0.1% |
| 2023 | 75.2% | +0.7% |
| 2024 | 75.1% | -0.2% |
| 2025 | 74.9% | -0.3% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 80.3% | 79.2% | 81.7% | 9 |
| 2000s | 78.1% | 77.4% | 78.8% | 10 |
| 2010s | 75.7% | 74.6% | 77.1% | 10 |
| 2020s | 75.0% | 74.7% | 75.2% | 6 |
Countries ranked near East Timor
More work & labour data for East Timor
- Labour force (ILO modelled estimates) 667.78 (2027)
- Labour force participation rate (ILO modelled estimates) 67.53 (2027)
- Persons outside the labour force (ILO modelled estimates) 321 (2027)
- Persons outside the labour force (ILO modelled estimates) (15+) 1.18 % change on previous year (2027)
- Labour force (ILO modelled estimates) (15+), annual growth rate 2.55 % change on previous year (2027)
- Employment-to-population ratio (ILO modelled estimates) 66.34 (2027)
- Legislation on sexual harassment in employment 1 (1=yes; 0=no) (2023)
- Women can take the same jobs as men 1 (1=yes; 0=no) (2023)
- Criminal sanctions or compensation for workplace sexual harassment 0 (1=yes; 0=no) (2023)
- Labor force participation rate, male (% of male population ages 15-64) 72.6% (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is self-employed, total (% of total employment) in East Timor?
- Self-employed, total (% of total employment) in East Timor was 74.9% in 2025, according to ILO Modelled Estimates database (ILOEST), International Labour Organization (ILO).
- What is the highest self-employed, total (% of total employment) recorded in East Timor?
- The highest recorded value was 81.7% in 1991.
- What is the lowest self-employed, total (% of total employment) recorded in East Timor?
- The lowest recorded value was 74.6% in 2019.
- How does East Timor rank for self-employed, total (% of total employment)?
- East Timor ranks 29th out of 186 countries with data for 2025.
- Is self-employed, total (% of total employment) rising or falling in East Timor?
- Over the last ten years it is down 0.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this East Timor data come from?
- The figures come from ILO Modelled Estimates database (ILOEST), International Labour Organization (ILO), published as part of Self-employed, total (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 35 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Self-employed workers are those workers who, working on their own account or with one or a few partners or in cooperative, hold the type of jobs defined as a "self-employment jobs." i.e. jobs where the remuneration is directly dependent upon the profits derived from the goods and services produced. Self-employed workers include sub-categories of employers, own-account workers and members of producers' cooperatives and contributing family workers.