Share of employment outside the formal sector (previous ILO definition - ICLS13) (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 is based on the 13th ICLS definitions. For time series comparability, it includes countries that have...
What the numbers show
Share of employment outside the formal sector (previous ILO definition - ICLS13) (15+) is currently reported for 44 countries. The highest value is 93.42 in Uganda; the lowest is 5.43 in Brunei Darussalam.
The median across all reporting countries is 48.21, and the mean is 50.46.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 17.
Over the past decade 17 countries rose and 26 fell. The largest increase was in Jordan (up 57.8%), and the largest decrease in Bosnia and Herzegovina (down 60.3%).
Share of employment outside the formal sector (previous ILO): full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Uganda | 93.42 | 2021 | down 1.5% | flat |
| 2 | Rwanda | 84.17 | 2025 | up 12.3% | rising |
| 3 | Mali | 83.02 | 2024 | down 6.7% | flat |
| 4 | Pakistan | 81.72 | 2025 | up 6.2% | flat |
| 5 | Angola | 80.59 | 2025 | up 0.7% | flat |
| 6 | India | 79.94 | 2025 | down 3.3% | flat |
| 7 | Zambia | 78.21 | 2024 | up 0.2% | flat |
| 8 | Bolivia, Plurinational State of | 77.89 | 2025 | up 13.1% | rising |
| 9 | Senegal | 77.65 | 2024 | up 5.8% | falling |
| 10 | Zimbabwe | 76.47 | 2024 | down 0.8% | flat |
| 11 | Bangladesh | 70.35 | 2024 | down 7.5% | falling |
| 12 | Egypt | 67.85 | 2024 | up 19.9% | rising |
| 13 | Myanmar | 67.3 | 2020 | down 4.2% | falling |
| 14 | Guatemala | 67.15 | 2024 | down 3.0% | falling |
| 15 | Viet Nam | 62.01 | 2024 | down 6.9% | falling |
| 16 | Sri Lanka | 58.62 | 2024 | down 3.4% | flat |
| 17 | Ecuador | 57.32 | 2025 | up 19.3% | rising |
| 18 | El Salvador | 57.13 | 2025 | down 10.1% | falling |
| 19 | Peru | 56.32 | 2025 | up 0.2% | falling |
| 20 | Namibia | 54.81 | 2018 | up 10.9% | rising |
| 21 | Argentina | 51.57 | 2025 | up 11.7% | rising |
| 22 | Dominican Republic | 48.63 | 2025 | down 3.4% | flat |
| 23 | Mexico | 47.78 | 2026 | up 6.0% | flat |
| 24 | Botswana | 47.46 | 2024 | up 8.2% | rising |
| 25 | Colombia | 46.78 | 2025 | — | falling |
| 26 | Thailand | 46.77 | 2024 | down 18.8% | falling |
| 27 | Panama | 45.01 | 2025 | up 17.7% | rising |
| 28 | Grenada | 42.88 | 2023 | up 2.1% | falling |
| 29 | Georgia | 42.22 | 2025 | down 6.6% | falling |
| 30 | Jordan | 40.44 | 2023 | up 57.8% | rising |
| 31 | Kyrgyzstan | 38.88 | 2023 | down 29.6% | falling |
| 32 | Guyana | 38.43 | 2024 | down 7.5% | falling |
| 33 | Costa Rica | 36.07 | 2025 | down 11.2% | falling |
| 34 | Brazil | 34.57 | 2025 | down 4.5% | falling |
| 35 | Uruguay | 32.3 | 2025 | up 45.8% | falling |
| 36 | Mongolia | 31.62 | 2025 | down 34.2% | falling |
| 37 | Palestine, State of | 28.76 | 2025 | down 13.1% | falling |
| 38 | Türkiye | 25.62 | 2025 | down 23.1% | falling |
| 39 | Mauritius | 22.68 | 2024 | down 44.2% | falling |
| 40 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 10.8 | 2025 | down 60.3% | falling |
| 41 | Serbia | 10.68 | 2019 | down 17.7% | falling |
| 42 | North Macedonia | 7.35 | 2025 | down 52.3% | falling |
| 43 | Seychelles | 5.74 | 2025 | down 56.0% | falling |
| 44 | Brunei Darussalam | 5.43 | 2024 | down 51.4% | 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. Data disaggregated by economic activity are provided according to the latest version of the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC) available for that year. Data may have been regrouped from national classifications, which may not be strictly compatible with ISIC. For more information, refer to the Labour Force Statistics (LFS and STLFS) database description.