Share of employment outside the formal sector (current ILO definition - ICLS19) (15+) 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 includes only countries for which the 19th ICLS definitions are applied. This harmonized series for...
What the numbers show
Share of employment outside the formal sector (current ILO definition - ICLS19) (15+) is currently reported for 46 countries. The highest value is 79.14 in Angola; the lowest is 0.795 in Hungary.
The median across all reporting countries is 8.1, and the mean is 20.22.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 100.
Over the past decade 18 countries rose and 25 fell. The largest increase was in Croatia (up 221.9%), and the largest decrease in Czechia (down 82.4%).
Share of employment outside the formal sector (current ILO definition): full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Angola | 79.14 | 2025 | up 2.9% | flat |
| 2 | Rwanda | 78.9 | 2025 | up 14.5% | rising |
| 3 | Zambia | 60.75 | 2024 | up 4.9% | flat |
| 4 | Viet Nam | 59.18 | 2024 | — | flat |
| 5 | Zimbabwe | 58.48 | 2024 | down 16.9% | falling |
| 6 | El Salvador | 52.05 | 2025 | down 9.8% | falling |
| 7 | Panama | 45.01 | 2025 | up 18.8% | rising |
| 8 | Botswana | 40.42 | 2024 | up 4.1% | rising |
| 9 | Jordan | 39.02 | 2024 | up 52.7% | rising |
| 10 | Guyana | 37.69 | 2024 | down 4.9% | falling |
| 11 | Costa Rica | 36.07 | 2025 | down 4.0% | flat |
| 12 | Brazil | 34.57 | 2025 | down 1.6% | flat |
| 13 | Uruguay | 32.11 | 2025 | up 42.6% | rising |
| 14 | Mongolia | 31.17 | 2025 | down 18.3% | falling |
| 15 | Armenia | 28.47 | 2024 | down 28.5% | falling |
| 16 | Georgia | 25.66 | 2025 | down 5.5% | falling |
| 17 | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | 20.49 | 2018 | — | rising |
| 18 | Russian Federation | 19.23 | 2025 | up 1.6% | flat |
| 19 | Chile | 16.64 | 2025 | down 50.6% | falling |
| 20 | Croatia | 14.83 | 2025 | up 221.9% | volatile |
| 21 | Republic of Moldova | 13.95 | 2025 | down 26.4% | falling |
| 22 | Italy | 8.43 | 2025 | up 61.8% | rising |
| 23 | Latvia | 8.16 | 2025 | up 55.7% | rising |
| 24 | Cyprus | 8.04 | 2025 | down 51.8% | falling |
| 25 | Austria | 5.88 | 2025 | up 107.8% | rising |
| 26 | Spain | 5.79 | 2025 | down 36.8% | falling |
| 27 | Luxembourg | 5.54 | 2025 | up 31.8% | flat |
| 28 | Slovakia | 5.51 | 2025 | down 63.7% | falling |
| 29 | Estonia | 5.24 | 2025 | up 67.7% | rising |
| 30 | Lithuania | 4.67 | 2025 | up 24.6% | rising |
| 31 | Netherlands | 4.55 | 2025 | down 64.5% | falling |
| 32 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 4.3 | 2025 | — | falling |
| 33 | Bulgaria | 4.11 | 2025 | down 41.3% | falling |
| 34 | Portugal | 4.11 | 2025 | down 54.2% | falling |
| 35 | Greece | 3.83 | 2025 | up 40.6% | rising |
| 36 | France | 3.81 | 2025 | up 40.1% | rising |
| 37 | Ireland | 3.77 | 2025 | down 18.8% | falling |
| 38 | Sweden | 3.33 | 2025 | down 17.2% | flat |
| 39 | Czechia | 3.2 | 2025 | down 82.4% | falling |
| 40 | Slovenia | 3.02 | 2025 | down 36.8% | falling |
| 41 | Belgium | 2.68 | 2025 | down 21.0% | falling |
| 42 | Switzerland | 2.13 | 2024 | up 27.8% | flat |
| 43 | Norway | 2.02 | 2025 | down 62.3% | falling |
| 44 | Finland | 1.7 | 2025 | down 80.7% | volatile |
| 45 | Denmark | 1.45 | 2025 | down 79.7% | falling |
| 46 | Hungary | 0.795 | 2020 | down 71.5% | 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 includes only countries for which the 19th ICLS definitions are applied. 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 Work Statistics -- 19th ICLS (WORK) database description.