Labor & Business

Employment in agriculture (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate)

Name: Employment in agriculture (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) by Country
Creator: World Bank
License: https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/public-licenses#cc-by

Employment is defined as persons of working age who were engaged in any activity to produce goods or provide services for pay or profit, whether at work during the reference period or not at work due to temporary absence from a job, or to working-time arrangement. The agriculture sector consists of activities in agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing, in accordance with division 1 (ISIC 2) or categories A-B (ISIC 3) or category A (ISIC 4).

World Bank code: SL.AGR.EMPL.ZS • Data available for 187 countries • Latest year: 2025

In 2025, Burundi led Employment in agriculture (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) at 85.34.

The world median across 182 reporting countries was 14.38.

What this measures: Employment is defined as persons of working age who were engaged in any activity to produce goods or provide services for pay or profit, whether at work during the reference period or not at work due to temporary absence from a job, or to working-time arrangement. The agriculture sector consists of activities in agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing, in accordance with division 1 (ISIC 2) or categories A-B (ISIC 3) or category A (ISIC 4).

How "Labor & Business" indicators are measured

Labor market indicators rely on household labor force surveys, which are conducted infrequently in many countries — annual data for some economies is partly modeled. Unemployment rates are particularly sensitive to definitions (ILO-standard versus national-standard, including or excluding discouraged workers). Informal-sector employment is undercounted in many low-income economies.

Distribution — 2025

Reporting: 182 countries
Median: 14.38
Mean: 21.81
25th percentile: 3.66
75th percentile: 34.23
Range: 0.10 – 85.34

World at a Glance — 2025

Every reporting country, grouped by region, shaded by value (quintile).

Lighter = lower value · Darker = higher value. Hover a cell to see the country and value.

Highest Values — 2025

#	Country	Employment in agriculture (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate)
1	Burundi Sub-Saharan Africa	85.34
2	Mozambique Sub-Saharan Africa	73.01
3	Niger Sub-Saharan Africa	72.99
4	Chad Sub-Saharan Africa	71.74
5	Madagascar Sub-Saharan Africa	69.21
6	Lao PDR East Asia & Pacific	68.60
7	Central African Republic Sub-Saharan Africa	66.06
8	Malawi Sub-Saharan Africa	64.98
9	Uganda Sub-Saharan Africa	64.85
10	Tanzania Sub-Saharan Africa	64.57

Looking for a specific country? Only the top and bottom 10 appear here. See where every country ranks for Employment in agriculture (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate).

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Biggest Movers — Year over Year

Largest increases

Largest decreases

Libya -5.0%
Barbados -4.3%
Poland -4.3%
Rwanda -4.0%
Czechia -3.8%

By Income Group — Average

Income group	Countries	Mean
High income	63	3.44
Upper middle income	48	18.45
Lower middle income	46	34.16
Low income	23	53.37
Not classified	2	34.51

By Region — Average

Region	Countries	Mean
East Asia & Pacific	29	22.03
Europe & Central Asia	48	9.94
Latin America & Caribbean	31	13.78
Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan	21	12.15
North America	2	1.31
South Asia	6	31.39
Sub-Saharan Africa	45	44.02

Lowest Values — 2025

#	Country	Employment in agriculture (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate)
1	Singapore	0.10
2	Hong Kong SAR, China	0.18
3	Macao SAR, China	0.37
4	Israel	0.76
5	Bahamas, The	0.77
6	Bahrain	0.83
7	United Kingdom	0.85
8	Malta	0.88
9	Luxembourg	0.88
10	Belgium	0.98

Download full dataset: CSV JSON

Source: World Bank Open Data (SL.AGR.EMPL.ZS), CC BY 4.0. Rankings show countries with available data for 2025.