Share of care employment outside the formal sector (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
Share of care employment outside the formal sector (previous ILO definition - ICLS13) is currently reported for 43 countries. The highest value is 69.35 in Jordan; the lowest is 1.2 in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The median across all reporting countries is 27.98, and the mean is 27.13.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 58.
Over the past decade 23 countries rose and 20 fell. The largest increase was in Brunei Darussalam (up 1,033.1%), and the largest decrease in Bosnia and Herzegovina (down 75.9%).
Share of care employment outside the formal sector: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jordan | 69.35 | 2023 | up 97.3% | rising |
| 2 | Honduras | 54.88 | 2017 | up 32.9% | rising |
| 3 | Uganda | 51.59 | 2021 | up 71.3% | rising |
| 4 | El Salvador | 50.69 | 2025 | up 6.7% | flat |
| 5 | Guatemala | 49.4 | 2024 | up 23.9% | rising |
| 6 | Angola | 46.12 | 2025 | up 21.5% | rising |
| 7 | Rwanda | 45.18 | 2025 | down 19.6% | falling |
| 8 | Zimbabwe | 41.43 | 2024 | up 13.9% | rising |
| 9 | Bangladesh | 39.32 | 2024 | down 26.7% | falling |
| 10 | Argentina | 39.09 | 2025 | up 2.3% | falling |
| 11 | Pakistan | 39.06 | 2025 | up 68.2% | rising |
| 12 | Mexico | 37.35 | 2026 | down 2.2% | flat |
| 13 | Zambia | 36.89 | 2024 | down 8.1% | flat |
| 14 | India | 36.29 | 2025 | up 14.7% | rising |
| 15 | Botswana | 36.04 | 2024 | up 30.5% | rising |
| 16 | Senegal | 34.67 | 2024 | down 34.9% | falling |
| 17 | Dominican Republic | 34.58 | 2025 | down 15.1% | falling |
| 18 | South Africa | 32.47 | 2024 | down 4.6% | rising |
| 19 | Bolivia, Plurinational State of | 31.51 | 2025 | up 18.5% | falling |
| 20 | Panama | 31.35 | 2025 | up 26.4% | rising |
| 21 | Ecuador | 28.6 | 2025 | up 41.6% | falling |
| 22 | Colombia | 27.98 | 2025 | down 27.1% | falling |
| 23 | Costa Rica | 27.55 | 2025 | down 20.0% | falling |
| 24 | Brazil | 25.61 | 2025 | down 0.8% | flat |
| 25 | Sri Lanka | 25.54 | 2024 | down 20.2% | falling |
| 26 | Grenada | 23.58 | 2023 | up 2.0% | falling |
| 27 | Egypt | 23.48 | 2024 | up 191.2% | rising |
| 28 | Mauritius | 21.19 | 2024 | down 45.7% | falling |
| 29 | Uruguay | 17.64 | 2025 | up 2.3% | falling |
| 30 | Türkiye | 14.66 | 2025 | down 6.1% | rising |
| 31 | Myanmar | 14.27 | 2020 | down 42.2% | falling |
| 32 | Viet Nam | 13.65 | 2024 | up 29.0% | rising |
| 33 | Thailand | 11.99 | 2024 | up 52.1% | rising |
| 34 | Guyana | 11.39 | 2024 | down 56.2% | falling |
| 35 | Brunei Darussalam | 11.29 | 2024 | up 1,033.1% | rising |
| 36 | Georgia | 9.54 | 2025 | down 0.6% | rising |
| 37 | Kyrgyzstan | 4.91 | 2023 | down 68.2% | volatile |
| 38 | Palestine, State of | 4.36 | 2025 | up 12.1% | volatile |
| 39 | Serbia | 4.24 | 2019 | up 100.9% | rising |
| 40 | Seychelles | 2.43 | 2025 | down 68.5% | falling |
| 41 | Mongolia | 2.24 | 2025 | down 25.4% | falling |
| 42 | North Macedonia | 1.83 | 2025 | up 24.1% | falling |
| 43 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1.2 | 2025 | down 75.9% | falling |
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. This harmonized series for employment outside the formal sector is derived using the same set of criteria across countries to improve comparability. The criteria used are based on employment status, institutional sector, destination of production, bookkeeping, registration, social security contribution, places of work and size. For more information, refer to the Worker and Sector Profiles (PROF) database description.