Share of 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 employment outside the formal sector (previous ILO definition - ICLS13) is currently reported for 81 countries. The highest value is 93.42 in Uganda; the lowest is 0.795 in Hungary.
The median across all reporting countries is 31.62, and the mean is 34.1.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 118.
Over the past decade 32 countries rose and 49 fell. The largest increase was in Croatia (up 221.9%), and the largest decrease in Hungary (down 93.1%).
Share of employment outside the formal sector: 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 6.1% | rising |
| 6 | Honduras | 80.1 | 2017 | up 13.8% | rising |
| 7 | India | 79.94 | 2025 | down 0.5% | flat |
| 8 | Zambia | 78.21 | 2024 | up 0.2% | flat |
| 9 | Bolivia, Plurinational State of | 77.89 | 2025 | up 13.1% | rising |
| 10 | Senegal | 77.65 | 2024 | down 5.9% | flat |
| 11 | Zimbabwe | 76.47 | 2024 | down 2.7% | flat |
| 12 | Bangladesh | 70.35 | 2024 | down 7.5% | falling |
| 13 | Egypt | 67.85 | 2024 | up 19.9% | rising |
| 14 | Myanmar | 67.3 | 2020 | down 4.2% | falling |
| 15 | Guatemala | 67.15 | 2024 | down 3.0% | falling |
| 16 | Armenia | 65.51 | 2017 | up 28.9% | rising |
| 17 | Viet Nam | 62.01 | 2024 | down 6.9% | falling |
| 18 | Sri Lanka | 58.62 | 2024 | down 3.4% | falling |
| 19 | Ecuador | 57.32 | 2025 | up 19.3% | falling |
| 20 | El Salvador | 57.13 | 2025 | down 10.1% | falling |
| 21 | Peru | 56.32 | 2025 | up 0.2% | falling |
| 22 | Indonesia | 56.01 | 2023 | down 28.3% | falling |
| 23 | Namibia | 54.81 | 2018 | up 10.9% | rising |
| 24 | Republic of Moldova | 53.16 | 2025 | down 7.3% | rising |
| 25 | Argentina | 51.57 | 2025 | up 11.7% | falling |
| 26 | Dominican Republic | 48.63 | 2025 | down 3.4% | rising |
| 27 | Mexico | 47.78 | 2026 | up 6.0% | falling |
| 28 | Botswana | 47.46 | 2024 | up 8.2% | rising |
| 29 | Colombia | 46.78 | 2025 | down 21.1% | falling |
| 30 | Thailand | 46.77 | 2024 | down 18.8% | falling |
| 31 | Panama | 45.01 | 2025 | up 18.8% | flat |
| 32 | Paraguay | 44.67 | 2025 | down 16.3% | falling |
| 33 | Grenada | 42.88 | 2023 | up 2.1% | falling |
| 34 | Georgia | 42.22 | 2025 | down 6.6% | falling |
| 35 | Jordan | 39.05 | 2024 | up 52.4% | rising |
| 36 | Kyrgyzstan | 38.88 | 2023 | down 29.6% | falling |
| 37 | Guyana | 38.43 | 2024 | down 7.5% | falling |
| 38 | Costa Rica | 36.07 | 2025 | down 4.0% | rising |
| 39 | Brazil | 34.57 | 2025 | down 1.6% | falling |
| 40 | Uruguay | 32.3 | 2025 | up 45.8% | falling |
| 41 | Mongolia | 31.62 | 2025 | down 34.2% | falling |
| 42 | South Africa | 30.68 | 2024 | up 10.8% | rising |
| 43 | Palestine, State of | 28.76 | 2025 | down 13.1% | falling |
| 44 | Saint Lucia | 28.2 | 2025 | down 7.2% | falling |
| 45 | Türkiye | 25.62 | 2025 | down 23.1% | falling |
| 46 | Mauritius | 22.68 | 2024 | down 44.2% | falling |
| 47 | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | 20.49 | 2018 | up 0.5% | flat |
| 48 | Russian Federation | 19.23 | 2025 | up 1.6% | rising |
| 49 | Chile | 16.86 | 2025 | down 50.1% | falling |
| 50 | Croatia | 14.83 | 2025 | up 221.9% | volatile |
| 51 | Serbia | 13.36 | 2025 | up 21.1% | falling |
| 52 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 10.8 | 2025 | down 60.3% | falling |
| 53 | Italy | 8.43 | 2025 | up 61.8% | rising |
| 54 | Latvia | 8.16 | 2025 | up 55.7% | rising |
| 55 | Cyprus | 8.04 | 2025 | down 51.8% | falling |
| 56 | North Macedonia | 7.35 | 2025 | down 52.3% | falling |
| 57 | Poland | 6.29 | 2025 | down 35.9% | falling |
| 58 | Austria | 5.88 | 2025 | up 107.8% | rising |
| 59 | Spain | 5.79 | 2025 | down 36.8% | rising |
| 60 | Seychelles | 5.74 | 2025 | down 56.0% | falling |
| 61 | Luxembourg | 5.54 | 2025 | up 31.8% | rising |
| 62 | Slovakia | 5.51 | 2025 | down 63.7% | falling |
| 63 | Brunei Darussalam | 5.43 | 2024 | down 51.4% | falling |
| 64 | Estonia | 5.24 | 2025 | up 67.7% | rising |
| 65 | Lithuania | 4.67 | 2025 | up 24.6% | rising |
| 66 | Netherlands | 4.55 | 2025 | down 64.5% | falling |
| 67 | Bulgaria | 4.11 | 2025 | down 41.3% | falling |
| 68 | Portugal | 4.11 | 2025 | down 54.2% | flat |
| 69 | Greece | 3.83 | 2025 | up 40.6% | rising |
| 70 | France | 3.81 | 2025 | up 40.1% | rising |
| 71 | Ireland | 3.77 | 2025 | down 18.8% | falling |
| 72 | Sweden | 3.33 | 2025 | down 17.2% | falling |
| 73 | Czechia | 3.2 | 2025 | down 82.4% | falling |
| 74 | Slovenia | 3.02 | 2025 | down 36.8% | flat |
| 75 | Belgium | 2.68 | 2025 | down 21.0% | falling |
| 76 | Iceland | 2.34 | 2020 | down 15.1% | falling |
| 77 | Switzerland | 2.13 | 2024 | up 27.8% | falling |
| 78 | Norway | 2.02 | 2025 | down 62.3% | falling |
| 79 | Finland | 1.7 | 2025 | down 80.7% | falling |
| 80 | Denmark | 1.45 | 2025 | down 79.7% | falling |
| 81 | Hungary | 0.795 | 2020 | down 93.1% | 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. 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.