👩 Which Countries Have the Most Women in the Workforce?

What we’re showing:

This map shows the top 10 and bottom 10 countries by the percentage of the women population (aged 15+) in the country’s labor force.

What is the labor force?

Per the World Bank, a country’s labor force includes people aged 15+ who are working or actively looking for work in exchange for pay, profit, or shared production. Unpaid workers, family caretakers, students, and sometimes military personnel (depending on the country) may be excluded from this count.

Key Takeaways

Nearly half of all women globally participate in the labor force, although this varies by region. For example, the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia exhibit notably lower participation rates.

Afghanistan and Yemen are currently estimated to have the lowest percentage of working-aged women in their workforce at 5%.

On the other hand, Madagascar, Burundi, and Mozambique have some of the highest women workforce participation rates in the world (near 80%). 

Interestingly, female labor force participation is highest in some of the poorest and richest countries in the world.