Topics / Jobs / World
How's the job market around the world?
2025 · 181 countries · data family: economicdata.dev
About the same as the year before
4.8%World unemployment rate, 2025
- no change from 2024 (4.8%)
- Of 181 countries: higher in 20, lower in 16, about the same in 145
- Highest: Eswatini (34.2%); lowest: Qatar (0.1%)
- +1.0 to +1.5 pts 1
- +0.5 to +1.0 pts 7
- within 0.5 pts 164
- −0.5 to −1.0 pts 6
- −1.0 to −1.5 pts 3
- no data
- Much higher than the year before 1
- Higher than the year before 19
- About the same as the year before 145
- Lower than the year before 13
- Much lower than the year before 3
Too small to draw at this scale, but in the table: Guam, Maldives, Samoa, Mauritius, Macao SAR China, Singapore, Barbados, São Tomé & Príncipe, Cape Verde, French Polynesia, Tonga, U.S. Virgin Islands, Bahrain, Comoros, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Hong Kong SAR China, Malta, St. Lucia.
Show the numbers (35 rows)
| Year | World |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 4.8% |
| 2024 | 4.8% |
| 2023 | 4.8% |
| 2022 | 5.2% |
| 2021 | 6.0% |
| 2020 | 6.6% |
| 2019 | 5.6% |
| 2018 | 5.8% |
| 2017 | 5.9% |
| 2016 | 6.0% |
| 2015 | 6.0% |
| 2014 | 6.0% |
| 2013 | 6.1% |
| 2012 | 6.2% |
| 2011 | 6.1% |
| 2010 | 6.3% |
| 2009 | 6.4% |
| 2008 | 5.8% |
| 2007 | 5.8% |
| 2006 | 6.0% |
| 2005 | 6.2% |
| 2004 | 6.3% |
| 2003 | 6.5% |
| 2002 | 6.4% |
| 2001 | 6.2% |
| 2000 | 6.1% |
| 1999 | 6.3% |
| 1998 | 6.2% |
| 1997 | 6.0% |
| 1996 | 6.0% |
| 1995 | 5.9% |
| 1994 | 5.8% |
| 1993 | 5.5% |
| 1992 | 5.3% |
| 1991 | 5.1% |
All 181 countries, 2025
| 1 | Finland | 9.5% | +1.1 pts | Much higher than the year before |
| 2 | Estonia | 8.3% | +0.7 pts | Higher than the year before |
| 3 | Botswana | 24.5% | +0.7 pts | Higher than the year before |
| 4 | Norway | 4.6% | +0.6 pts | Higher than the year before |
| 5 | Romania | 6.0% | +0.6 pts | Higher than the year before |
| 6 | Canada | 6.9% | +0.6 pts | Higher than the year before |
| 7 | Georgia | 12.1% | +0.5 pts | Higher than the year before |
| 8 | Switzerland | 4.9% | +0.5 pts | Higher than the year before |
| 9 | Armenia | 12.9% | +0.5 pts | Higher than the year before |
| 10 | United Kingdom | 4.7% | +0.4 pts | Higher than the year before |
| 11 | Austria | 5.6% | +0.4 pts | Higher than the year before |
| 12 | Montenegro | 13.6% | +0.4 pts | Higher than the year before |
| 13 | New Zealand | 5.1% | +0.4 pts | Higher than the year before |
| 14 | Puerto Rico | 6.0% | +0.4 pts | Higher than the year before |
| 15 | Yemen | 17.3% | +0.4 pts | Higher than the year before |
| 16 | Bosnia & Herzegovina | 11.0% | +0.3 pts | Higher than the year before |
| 17 | Haiti | 14.9% | +0.3 pts | Higher than the year before |
| 18 | Ireland | 4.6% | +0.3 pts | Higher than the year before |
| 19 | Guam | 5.6% | +0.3 pts | Higher than the year before |
| 20 | Germany | 3.7% | +0.3 pts | Higher than the year before |
| 21 | Sweden | 8.7% | +0.3 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 22 | Chile | 9.0% | +0.3 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 23 | Turkmenistan | 4.3% | +0.2 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 24 | Albania | 10.9% | +0.2 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 25 | Maldives | 4.5% | +0.2 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 26 | Czechia | 2.8% | +0.2 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 27 | Suriname | 7.8% | +0.2 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 28 | Syria | 13.6% | +0.2 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 29 | Belgium | 5.9% | +0.2 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 30 | Iraq | 15.5% | +0.2 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 31 | New Caledonia | 11.2% | +0.2 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 32 | Uzbekistan | 4.6% | +0.2 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 33 | United States | 4.2% | +0.2 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 34 | Netherlands | 3.9% | +0.2 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 35 | Denmark | 5.5% | +0.2 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 36 | Poland | 3.0% | +0.2 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 37 | Myanmar (Burma) | 3.0% | +0.2 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 38 | Ghana | 3.0% | +0.2 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 39 | Bahamas | 9.2% | +0.2 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 40 | Belize | 8.9% | +0.2 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 41 | Iran | 8.3% | +0.2 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 42 | Australia | 4.1% | +0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 43 | Bangladesh | 3.8% | +0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 44 | France | 7.5% | +0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 45 | Samoa | 5.0% | +0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 46 | Jamaica | 3.3% | +0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 47 | Namibia | 19.3% | +0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 48 | South Africa | 32.4% | +0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 49 | Brunei | 5.3% | +0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 50 | Angola | 14.1% | +0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 51 | Guyana | 12.0% | +0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 52 | Mauritius | 5.6% | +0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 53 | Macao SAR China | 2.3% | +0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 54 | Vanuatu | 5.1% | +0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 55 | Singapore | 2.8% | +0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 56 | Moldova | 1.5% | +0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 57 | Barbados | 6.5% | +0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 58 | Mongolia | 5.2% | +0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 59 | São Tomé & Príncipe | 9.1% | +0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 60 | Timor-Leste | 1.6% | +0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 61 | Gabon | 20.2% | +0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 62 | Mauritania | 10.3% | +0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 63 | Nicaragua | 5.0% | +0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 64 | Slovakia | 5.4% | +0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 65 | Cape Verde | 11.9% | +0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 66 | Côte d’Ivoire | 2.3% | +0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 67 | French Polynesia | 11.7% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 68 | Oman | 3.3% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 69 | Sierra Leone | 3.1% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 70 | Togo | 2.0% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 71 | India | 4.2% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 72 | Equatorial Guinea | 8.3% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 73 | Tonga | 2.0% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 74 | El Salvador | 3.3% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 75 | Gambia | 6.5% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 76 | Burkina Faso | 3.5% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 77 | Kyrgyzstan | 3.5% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 78 | Philippines | 2.2% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 79 | Rwanda | 11.4% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 80 | Eritrea | 6.0% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 81 | Guinea | 5.2% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 82 | Kuwait | 2.2% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 83 | Guinea-Bissau | 2.7% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 84 | China | 4.6% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 85 | Iceland | 3.6% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 86 | Cyprus | 4.9% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 87 | Hungary | 4.5% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 88 | Malawi | 5.1% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 89 | U.S. Virgin Islands | 11.4% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 90 | Zambia | 5.9% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 91 | Nigeria | 3.1% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 92 | Bahrain | 1.1% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 93 | Niger | 0.4% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 94 | Tanzania | 1.6% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 95 | United Arab Emirates | 2.2% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 96 | Congo - Kinshasa | 4.4% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 97 | Laos | 1.2% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 98 | Trinidad & Tobago | 3.3% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 99 | Honduras | 4.9% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 100 | Cambodia | 0.3% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 101 | Djibouti | 26.0% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 102 | Burundi | 0.9% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 103 | North Korea | 3.5% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 104 | Uganda | 2.7% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 105 | Comoros | 3.8% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 106 | Chad | 1.1% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 107 | Croatia | 5.0% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 108 | Qatar | 0.1% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 109 | Thailand | 0.8% | +0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 110 | Cameroon | 3.6% | −0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 111 | Somalia | 18.9% | −0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 112 | Central African Republic | 6.3% | −0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 113 | Argentina | 7.1% | −0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 114 | Mexico | 2.7% | −0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 115 | Cuba | 1.7% | −0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 116 | Guatemala | 2.6% | −0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 117 | North Macedonia | 12.3% | −0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 118 | Madagascar | 3.0% | −0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 119 | Solomon Islands | 1.4% | −0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 120 | Fiji | 5.3% | −0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 121 | Venezuela | 5.3% | −0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 122 | Congo - Brazzaville | 19.9% | −0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 123 | Algeria | 11.6% | −0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 124 | Lesotho | 16.3% | −0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 125 | Liberia | 2.9% | −0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 126 | Ethiopia | 3.3% | −0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 127 | Nepal | 10.5% | −0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 128 | Egypt | 6.8% | −0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 129 | Kenya | 5.4% | −0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 130 | Mozambique | 6.6% | −0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 131 | Benin | 1.6% | −0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 132 | Japan | 2.5% | −0.0 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 133 | Senegal | 2.7% | −0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 134 | Papua New Guinea | 2.6% | −0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 135 | Bhutan | 3.2% | −0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 136 | Luxembourg | 6.3% | −0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 137 | Kazakhstan | 4.8% | −0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 138 | Indonesia | 3.2% | −0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 139 | Pakistan | 5.4% | −0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 140 | Belarus | 3.4% | −0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 141 | Vietnam | 1.5% | −0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 142 | Malaysia | 3.8% | −0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 143 | Peru | 5.1% | −0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 144 | St. Vincent & Grenadines | 18.0% | −0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 145 | Panama | 8.4% | −0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 146 | Costa Rica | 6.8% | −0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 147 | Mali | 2.8% | −0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 148 | South Korea | 2.7% | −0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 149 | Morocco | 9.0% | −0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 150 | Israel | 3.5% | −0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 151 | Italy | 6.4% | −0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 152 | Tajikistan | 6.9% | −0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 153 | Serbia | 7.1% | −0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 154 | Lithuania | 6.7% | −0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 155 | Zimbabwe | 9.3% | −0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 156 | Ecuador | 3.3% | −0.1 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 157 | Jordan | 16.5% | −0.2 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 158 | Hong Kong SAR China | 2.8% | −0.2 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 159 | Azerbaijan | 5.5% | −0.2 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 160 | Malta | 2.9% | −0.2 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 161 | Dominican Republic | 5.1% | −0.2 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 162 | Tunisia | 15.1% | −0.2 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 163 | Sri Lanka | 4.0% | −0.2 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 164 | Türkiye | 8.5% | −0.3 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 165 | Russia | 2.1% | −0.3 pts | About the same as the year before |
| 166 | Bolivia | 3.0% | −0.3 pts | Lower than the year before |
| 167 | Libya | 18.8% | −0.3 pts | Lower than the year before |
| 168 | Latvia | 6.6% | −0.3 pts | Lower than the year before |
| 169 | Afghanistan | 13.4% | −0.3 pts | Lower than the year before |
| 170 | Portugal | 6.2% | −0.3 pts | Lower than the year before |
| 171 | Eswatini | 34.2% | −0.4 pts | Lower than the year before |
| 172 | Saudi Arabia | 3.0% | −0.5 pts | Lower than the year before |
| 173 | Slovenia | 3.2% | −0.5 pts | Lower than the year before |
| 174 | Bulgaria | 3.5% | −0.7 pts | Lower than the year before |
| 175 | Uruguay | 7.5% | −0.7 pts | Lower than the year before |
| 176 | St. Lucia | 9.5% | −0.7 pts | Lower than the year before |
| 177 | Brazil | 6.0% | −0.8 pts | Lower than the year before |
| 178 | Paraguay | 4.8% | −0.9 pts | Lower than the year before |
| 179 | Spain | 10.4% | −1.0 pts | Much lower than the year before |
| 180 | Colombia | 8.3% | −1.3 pts | Much lower than the year before |
| 181 | Greece | 8.5% | −1.5 pts | Much lower than the year before |
Get this data
This page's numbers, as JSON:
curl https://visualizedata.org/data/topics/jobs/world.jsonThe World Bank API it comes from (live, no key):
curl "https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/all/indicator/SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS?format=json&date=2024:2025"What this can't tell you
- Most countries' figures are the ILO's modelled estimates: where a labour force survey is old or missing, a model fills the gap, so small year-to-year changes are often the model, not the economy.
- Unemployment counts people looking for work; in countries with large informal economies, few people can afford to be unemployed, so a low rate does not mean plenty of good jobs.
- 68 countries and territories in the registry have no 2025 estimate and are left out.
How the answer is decided
The latest year is compared with the year before: a rise of 1 point or more is 'much higher', 0.3 or more 'higher', a change within 0.3 'about the same', and the same downward. Countries are coloured by the same five words, or by the change itself.
Sources
- World Bank WDI, SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS: unemployment, % of labour force (modelled ILO estimate), updated 2026-10-08 (CC BY 4.0 (World Bank))
- Natural Earth, Admin 0 countries 1:110m (public domain)
- Built 2026-10-24. Download every country's answer (JSON)
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