Top 10 Countries with the Largest Labor Force in 2024

Understanding the size and structure of a country’s labor force provides valuable insight into its economic strength, demographic composition, and development potential. In 2024, the global workforce reflects a diverse mix of population sizes, participation rates, and unemployment levels.

This article highlights the top countries by total labor force, identifies which economies are mobilizing the most workers, and explores where labor participation is highest and lowest.

Top 10 Countries by Labor Force in 2024

Rank	Country	Labor Force	% of Population	Unemployment Rate
1	China	773.9 million	55%	13.3%
2	India	607.7 million	42%	10.3%
3	United States	174.2 million	51%	11.4%
4	Indonesia	143.1 million	50%	14.5%
5	Nigeria	113.3 million	49%	7.9%
6	Brazil	106.8 million	50%	13.3%
7	Pakistan	83.6 million	33%	4.1%
8	Bangladesh	77.4 million	45%	5.4%
9	Russia	72.5 million	51%	5.6%
10	Japan	69.4 million	56%	8.5%

The top 10 reflects a mix of high-population developing countries and mature economies. While China and India lead in absolute workforce size, countries like Japan and the U.S. maintain high productivity despite smaller populations.

Labor Force Participation: Who’s Engaged?

Labor force participation—the percentage of the total population that is working or actively seeking work—varies widely.

Countries with Highest Labor Force Participation (% of Population):

• Qatar: 74%
• North Korea: 67%
• United Arab Emirates: 65%
• Singapore: 62%
• Iceland: 61%

Countries with Lowest Labor Force Participation:

• Sao Tome and Principe: 15%
• Yemen: 19%
• Somalia: 18%
• Afghanistan: 21%
• Djibouti: 23%

High participation rates are often seen in smaller, service-driven economies or those with strong labor mobilization. In contrast, conflict-affected or low-income countries tend to have lower participation due to economic instability and informal labor challenges.

Unemployment Hotspots in 2024

While some countries boast low unemployment, others face major challenges in job creation:

Highest Unemployment Rates:

• Cambodia: 34.4%
• Timor-Leste: 33.2%
• Tanzania: 23.1%
• Eswatini: 18.1%
• Paraguay: 18.6%

Lowest Unemployment Rates:

• Botswana: 0.1%
• Qatar: 0.4%
• Colombia: 0.9%
• Mexico & Myanmar: 1.1%
• Singapore & Sao Tome: 1.2% – 1.4%

Unemployment reflects both economic structure and statistical definitions. Some nations may report low unemployment due to informal economies or limited reporting, while others reveal more accurate but higher figures.

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Regional Labor Force Highlights

• Asia: Dominates total workforce numbers (China, India, Indonesia) and includes several high-participation economies like Vietnam (57%) and Korea (57%).
• Africa: Strong labor populations in Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Egypt, with high youth representation but variable unemployment.
• Europe: Moderate labor sizes with high workforce-to-population ratios; top performers include Germany (52%) and Netherlands (57%).
• Americas: The U.S., Brazil, and Mexico drive labor markets, but Latin America faces a mix of high and low unemployment across countries.

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Why Labor Force Data Matters

Labor force statistics help policymakers:

• Allocate resources for employment and training.
• Understand demographic pressures on the economy.
• Design social protection and retirement systems.
• Target unemployment and underemployment more effectively.

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Key Takeaways

• China and India lead in labor force size, with over 1.3 billion workers combined.
• Countries with the highest participation include Qatar, North Korea, and the UAE.
• Nations like Cambodia and Timor-Leste face critical unemployment challenges.
• Workforce size alone doesn’t guarantee economic success—quality of employment, productivity, and equity matter equally.

Global Labor Force by Country in 2024:

Rank	Country Name	Country Code	Total Population (2024)	Total Labor force (2024)	% Labor Force of Total Population (2024)	Unemployment (% of total labor force)
1	China	CHN	1,408,975,000	773,879,678	55%	13.3%
2	India	IND	1,450,935,791	607,691,498	42%	10.3%
3	United States	USA	340,110,988	174,173,594	51%	11.4%
4	Indonesia	IDN	283,487,931	143,143,940	50%	14.5%
5	Nigeria	NGA	232,679,478	113,349,564	49%	7.9%
6	Brazil	BRA	211,998,573	106,790,403	50%	13.3%
7	Pakistan	PAK	251,269,164	83,643,815	33%	4.1%
8	Bangladesh	BGD	173,562,364	77,355,168	45%	5.4%
9	Russian Federation	RUS	143,533,851	72,516,535	51%	5.6%
10	Japan	JPN	123,975,371	69,382,089	56%	8.5%
11	Mexico	MEX	130,861,007	60,958,888	47%	1.1%
12	Viet Nam	VNM	100,987,686	57,133,476	57%	4.7%
13	Ethiopia	ETH	132,059,767	54,470,278	41%	7.5%
14	Philippines	PHL	115,843,670	50,979,290	44%	3.4%
15	Germany	DEU	83,510,950	43,772,213	52%	5.5%
16	Thailand	THA	71,668,011	40,623,017	57%	7%
17	Congo, Dem. Rep.	COD	109,276,265	38,546,033	35%	1.7%
18	Turkiye	TUR	85,518,661	36,080,817	42%	2.9%
19	United Kingdom	GBR	69,226,000	35,358,530	51%	3.1%
20	Egypt, Arab Rep.	EGY	116,538,258	33,748,776	29%	10.7%
21	Tanzania	TZA	68,560,157	32,982,660	48%	23.1%
22	France	FRA	68,516,699	31,725,232	46%	7.6%
23	Korea, Rep.	KOR	51,751,065	29,713,473	57%	5.1%
24	Iran, Islamic Rep.	IRN	91,567,738	28,574,661	31%	4.1%
25	South Africa	ZAF	64,007,187	27,765,994	43%	5.2%
26	Colombia	COL	52,886,363	26,821,693	51%	0.9%
27	Italy	ITA	58,986,023	25,828,140	44%	11.9%
28	Spain	ESP	48,807,137	24,386,307	50%	0.3%
29	Kenya	KEN	56,432,944	23,781,100	42%	3.5%
30	Canada	CAN	41,288,599	22,867,596	55%	6.5%
31	Uganda	UGA	50,015,092	22,829,059	46%	5.9%
32	Myanmar	MMR	54,500,091	22,741,699	42%	1.1%
33	Argentina	ARG	45,696,159	22,285,744	49%	6.3%
34	Peru	PER	34,217,848	18,917,570	55%	9.1%
35	Malaysia	MYS	35,557,673	18,264,000	51%	4.6%
36	Poland	POL	36,554,707	18,244,832	50%	9.6%
37	Korea, Dem. People’s Rep.	PRK	26,498,823	17,637,357	67%	3.9%
38	Saudi Arabia	SAU	35,300,280	17,168,015	49%	4.6%
39	Madagascar	MDG	31,964,956	16,519,381	52%	19.7%
40	Angola	AGO	37,885,849	15,960,547	42%	7.8%
41	Mozambique	MOZ	34,631,766	15,172,714	44%	2.3%
42	Australia	AUS	27,204,809	14,911,672	55%	5.2%
43	Uzbekistan	UZB	36,361,859	13,974,298	38%	1.5%
44	Ghana	GHA	34,427,414	13,927,871	40%	5.6%
45	Algeria	DZA	46,814,308	13,294,279	28%	2.5%
46	Cote d’Ivoire	CIV	31,934,230	12,594,667	39%	5.6%
47	Morocco	MAR	38,081,173	12,475,182	33%	25.9%
48	Iraq	IRQ	46,042,015	12,008,181	26%	5.5%
49	Venezuela, RB	VEN	28,405,543	11,135,919	39%	4.8%
50	Cameroon	CMR	29,123,744	11,118,837	38%	7.2%
51	Niger	NER	27,032,412	10,486,041	39%	2.8%
52	Netherlands	NLD	17,994,237	10,315,268	57%	7.8%
53	Kazakhstan	KAZ	20,592,571	10,285,416	50%	5.6%
54	Chile	CHL	19,764,771	10,088,445	51%	7.8%
55	Cambodia	KHM	17,638,801	9,903,822	56%	34.4%
56	Afghanistan	AFG	42,647,492	9,132,918	21%	3.4%
57	Mali	MLI	24,478,595	9,126,488	37%	4.3%
58	Ecuador	ECU	18,135,478	8,820,523	49%	8.3%
59	Malawi	MWI	21,655,286	8,601,901	40%	7.4%
60	Sri Lanka	LKA	21,916,000	8,498,980	39%	11.8%
61	Nepal	NPL	29,651,054	8,435,336	28%	20.1%
62	Romania	ROU	19,069,340	8,263,006	43%	6.5%
63	Yemen, Rep.	YEM	40,583,164	7,847,788	19%	11.5%
64	Guatemala	GTM	18,406,359	7,575,261	41%	3.4%
65	Zambia	ZMB	21,314,956	7,407,019	35%	3%
66	United Arab Emirates	ARE	10,876,981	7,090,447	65%	10.1%
67	Bolivia	BOL	12,413,315	6,859,259	55%	5.6%
68	Syrian Arab Republic	SYR	24,672,760	6,616,919	27%	2.2%
69	Chad	TCD	20,299,123	6,599,919	33%	5.2%
70	Burkina Faso	BFA	23,548,781	6,461,318	27%	2.6%
71	Benin	BEN	14,462,724	6,397,139	44%	10.2%
72	Zimbabwe	ZWE	16,634,373	6,386,440	38%	15.1%
73	Burundi	BDI	14,047,786	6,106,804	43%	6.1%
74	Senegal	SEN	18,501,984	5,763,236	31%	2.8%
75	Sweden	SWE	10,569,709	5,699,211	54%	4.4%
76	Rwanda	RWA	14,256,567	5,671,034	40%	3.1%
77	Czechia	CZE	10,882,164	5,541,179	51%	4.2%
78	Portugal	PRT	10,701,636	5,464,162	51%	3.3%
79	Belgium	BEL	11,876,844	5,415,520	46%	9.2%
80	Dominican Republic	DOM	11,427,557	5,413,316	47%	15.5%
81	Haiti	HTI	11,772,557	5,281,030	45%	4.4%
82	Switzerland	CHE	9,034,102	5,152,970	57%	3.2%
83	Azerbaijan	AZE	10,202,850	5,019,885	49%	6.8%
84	Hungary	HUN	9,562,314	4,953,933	52%	4.9%
85	Cuba	CUB	10,979,783	4,858,882	44%	2.6%
86	Belarus	BLR	9,133,712	4,817,451	53%	18%
87	Austria	AUT	9,178,482	4,768,178	52%	4.8%
88	Israel	ISR	9,974,400	4,709,795	47%	5.4%
89	Greece	GRC	10,388,805	4,654,775	45%	2.9%
90	Guinea	GIN	14,754,785	4,534,264	31%	2.6%
91	Honduras	HND	10,825,703	4,295,619	40%	2.1%
92	Tunisia	TUN	12,277,109	4,246,885	35%	3.3%
93	Hong Kong SAR, China	HKG	7,524,100	3,835,727	51%	1.2%
94	Singapore	SGP	6,036,860	3,722,265	62%	6.7%
95	Papua New Guinea	PNG	10,576,502	3,660,451	35%	16.1%
96	Lao PDR	LAO	7,769,819	3,584,797	46%	2.9%
97	Paraguay	PRY	6,929,153	3,502,274	51%	18.6%
98	Somalia	SOM	19,009,151	3,439,353	18%	7.5%
99	Togo	TGO	9,515,236	3,344,953	35%	5.9%
100	Serbia	SRB	6,587,202	3,229,504	49%	2.4%
101	Nicaragua	NIC	6,916,140	3,224,663	47%	3%
102	Denmark	DNK	5,976,992	3,210,383	54%	5%
103	Kyrgyz Republic	KGZ	7,224,614	3,197,379	44%	3.8%
104	New Zealand	NZL	5,338,500	3,124,165	59%	4.6%
105	Bulgaria	BGR	6,444,366	3,123,797	48%	3.1%
106	Jordan	JOR	11,552,876	3,079,844	27%	2.7%
107	Norway	NOR	5,572,272	3,042,209	55%	10.4%
108	Kuwait	KWT	4,973,861	3,002,559	60%	5.5%
109	Finland	FIN	5,637,214	2,898,358	51%	2.7%
110	El Salvador	SLV	6,338,193	2,890,348	46%	1.4%
111	Sierra Leone	SLE	8,642,022	2,863,312	33%	5.4%
112	Ireland	IRL	5,380,257	2,856,577	53%	14.1%
113	Tajikistan	TJK	10,590,927	2,780,399	26%	8.9%
114	Slovak Republic	SVK	5,422,069	2,779,407	51%	3.5%
115	Oman	OMN	5,281,538	2,695,516	51%	3%
116	Liberia	LBR	5,612,817	2,606,936	46%	19.1%
117	Libya	LBY	7,381,023	2,584,879	35%	10.7%
118	Congo, Rep.	COG	6,332,961	2,563,444	40%	3.6%
119	Turkmenistan	TKM	7,494,498	2,444,797	33%	11.2%
120	Costa Rica	CRI	5,129,910	2,357,187	46%	4.9%
121	Panama	PAN	4,515,577	2,205,785	49%	4.6%
122	Qatar	QAT	2,857,822	2,122,959	74%	0.4%
123	Central African Republic	CAF	5,330,690	2,000,171	38%	3%
124	Georgia	GEO	3,673,850	1,832,929	50%	13.4%
125	Uruguay	URY	3,386,588	1,767,639	52%	4%
126	Croatia	HRV	3,866,300	1,733,415	45%	3.2%
127	Eritrea	ERI	3,535,603	1,709,561	48%	5.5%
128	Jamaica	JAM	2,839,175	1,570,210	55%	6.5%
129	Lithuania	LTU	2,888,055	1,547,740	54%	2.7%
130	Armenia	ARM	3,033,500	1,510,047	50%	6.1%
131	Mongolia	MNG	3,524,788	1,449,106	41%	4.8%
132	Albania	ALB	2,714,617	1,369,710	50%	2.2%
133	Moldova	MDA	2,389,275	1,357,837	57%	2.5%
134	Bosnia and Herzegovina	BIH	3,164,253	1,355,710	43%	6.4%
135	Mauritania	MRT	5,169,395	1,209,855	23%	5.5%
136	Botswana	BWA	2,521,139	1,173,186	47%	0.1%
137	Puerto Rico (US)	PRI	3,203,295	1,151,595	36%	5.4%
138	Namibia	NAM	3,030,131	1,130,939	37%	2.5%
139	Slovenia	SVN	2,126,324	1,058,286	50%	12%
140	Latvia	LVA	1,862,441	954,883	51%	4.6%
141	Bahrain	BHR	1,588,670	913,340	57%	9.2%
142	Lesotho	LSO	2,337,423	884,160	38%	3.9%
143	Guinea-Bissau	GNB	2,201,352	845,297	38%	3%
144	Gabon	GAB	2,538,952	824,439	32%	7.4%
145	Gambia, The	GMB	2,759,988	783,147	28%	3.1%
146	North Macedonia	MKD	1,792,179	779,211	43%	3.2%
147	Cyprus	CYP	1,358,282	772,322	57%	5.2%
148	Estonia	EST	1,371,986	756,167	55%	3.4%
149	Equatorial Guinea	GNQ	1,892,516	714,966	38%	1.5%
150	Trinidad and Tobago	TTO	1,368,333	649,891	47%	18.9%
151	Timor-Leste	TLS	1,400,638	615,914	44%	33.2%
152	Mauritius	MUS	1,259,509	594,884	47%	11.4%
153	Solomon Islands	SLB	819,198	435,634	53%	5%
154	Bhutan	BTN	791,524	406,457	51%	10.9%
155	Eswatini	SWZ	1,242,822	390,566	31%	18.1%
156	Fiji	FJI	928,784	387,815	42%	7.3%
157	Macao SAR, China	MAC	687,000	382,104	56%	8.5%
158	Luxembourg	LUX	677,717	349,964	52%	4.1%
159	Malta	MLT	574,346	318,150	55%	13%
160	Guyana	GUY	831,087	292,190	35%	11.6%
161	Comoros	COM	866,628	276,379	32%	2.6%
162	Maldives	MDV	527,799	270,346	51%	0.7%
163	Djibouti	DJI	1,168,722	265,171	23%	1.6%
164	Suriname	SUR	634,431	255,453	40%	1.9%
165	Iceland	ISL	404,610	248,445	61%	2.2%
166	Montenegro	MNE	623,831	245,288	39%	4.5%
167	Bahamas, The	BHS	401,283	237,110	59%	16.2%
168	Brunei Darussalam	BRN	462,721	233,520	50%	8.4%
169	Cabo Verde	CPV	524,877	224,498	43%	4.3%
170	Belize	BLZ	417,072	189,961	46%	2.9%
171	Barbados	BRB	282,467	147,247	52%	2.1%
172	New Caledonia	NCL	292,639	130,763	45%	4.1%
173	French Polynesia	PYF	281,807	119,055	42%	4.1%
174	Vanuatu	VUT	327,777	118,094	36%	8.4%
175	St. Lucia	LCA	179,744	102,438	57%	4.5%
176	Channel Islands	CHI	168,126	82,396	49%	5.1%
177	Guam	GUM	167,777	77,700	46%	5.5%
178	Samoa	WSM	218,019	57,239	26%	1.4%
179	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	VCT	100,616	52,149	52%	12%
180	Virgin Islands (U.S.)	VIR	104,377	47,229	45%	17.1%
181	Tonga	TON	104,175	34,784	33%	6%
182	Sao Tome and Principe	STP	235,536	34,471	15%	8.6%

Source

World Bank, Labor force, total (2024)