Mapped: The Countries Where the Most Women Work in 2025

Pallavi Rao
2025-03-08 14:42:00
www.visualcapitalist.com

Mapped: The Countries Where the Most Women Work in 2025

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Where do women work the most, why is this an important measure to track, and what can it tell us about a country?

We map out relevant data to answer these questions, sourced from 2025 estimates made by the International Labour Organization.

It shows the share of working-age women (15–64) who are employed or looking for work in each country, also known as the labor force participation rate.

Ranked: Where Women Participate Most in the Workforce

As a general trend: women’s workforce participation spikes in either very poor countries, or very rich ones.

For example, the highest rates can be seen in North Korea and Madagascar (84–87%), and Iceland and the Netherlands (82–84%).

Per current World Bank classification, the former are low-income countries, and the latter are high-income countries.

Rank	Country	ISO Code	Women Workforce Participation Rate (%)
1	North Korea	PRK	87
2	Solomon Islands	SLB	84
3	Madagascar	MDG	84
4	Iceland	ISL	84
5	Netherlands	NLD	82
6	Sweden	SWE	82
7	Nigeria	NGA	82
8	Tanzania	TZA	82
9	Burundi	BDI	81
10	Estonia	EST	81
11	Switzerland	CHE	80
12	New Zealand	NZL	80
13	Finland	FIN	80
14	Cambodia	KHM	79
15	Denmark	DNK	79
16	Mozambique	MOZ	78
17	Norway	NOR	78
18	Uganda	UGA	78
19	Canada	CAN	78
20	Lithuania	LTU	78
21	Australia	AUS	77
22	Japan	JPN	77
23	Belarus	BLR	76
24	Germany	DEU	76
25	Kazakhstan	KAZ	76
26	Portugal	PRT	76
27	Benin	BEN	76
28	Cyprus	CYP	76
29	Bahamas	BHS	76
30	Eritrea	ERI	75
31	Vietnam	VNM	75
32	Bolivia	BOL	75
33	Latvia	LVA	74
34	Austria	AUT	74
35	Barbados	BRB	74
36	Angola	AGO	74
37	Malta	MLT	74
38	Hungary	HUN	74
39	UK	GBR	74
40	Ireland	IRL	74
41	Liberia	LBR	73
42	Slovenia	SVN	73
43	Moldova	MDA	73
44	Slovakia	SVK	73
45	Israel	ISR	73
46	Uruguay	URY	71
47	Singapore	SGP	71
48	France	FRA	71
49	Russia	RUS	71
50	Czechia	CZE	71
51	Luxembourg	LUX	71
52	Saint Lucia	LCA	71
53	Spain	ESP	71
54	Bulgaria	BGR	70
55	Peru	PER	70
56	China	CHN	69
57	Poland	POL	69
58	U.S.	USA	69
59	Armenia	ARM	69
60	Thailand	THA	68
61	Azerbaijan	AZE	68
62	Macao	MAC	68
63	Botswana	BWA	67
64	Congo	COG	67
65	Belgium	BEL	67
66	Taiwan	TWN	67
67	Jamaica	JAM	67
68	Croatia	HRV	67
69	Guam	GUM	67
70	Serbia	SRB	66
71	Central African Republic	CAF	66
72	Hong Kong	HKG	66
73	Channel Islands	CHI	65
74	Albania	ALB	65
75	Qatar	QAT	65
76	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	VCT	65
77	U.S. Virgin Islands	VIR	65
78	Laos	LAO	65
79	South Korea	KOR	64
80	Malawi	MWI	64
81	DRC	COD	63
82	Ghana	GHA	63
83	Paraguay	PRY	63
84	Kenya	KEN	63
85	Argentina	ARG	62
86	Greece	GRC	62
87	Haiti	HTI	62
88	Georgia	GEO	61
89	Chile	CHL	61
90	Timor-Leste	TLS	61
91	Brazil	BRA	61
92	Niger	NER	61
93	Zimbabwe	ZWE	61
94	Rwanda	RWA	60
95	Côte d’Ivoire	CIV	60
96	New Caledonia	NCL	60
97	Mali	MLI	60
98	Bhutan	BTN	59
99	Ethiopia	ETH	59
100	Trinidad & Tobago	TTO	59
101	Dominican Republic	DOM	59
102	Panama	PAN	59
103	Brunei Darussalam	BRN	58
104	Italy	ITA	58
105	South Africa	ZAF	58
106	Colombia	COL	58
107	Togo	TGO	57
108	Romania	ROU	57
109	Namibia	NAM	57
110	Mongolia	MNG	57
111	Kyrgyzstan	KGZ	57
112	Cameroon	CMR	57
113	Malaysia	MYS	57
114	UAE	ARE	56
115	Cabo Verde	CPV	56
116	Guinea-Bissau	GNB	56
117	Ecuador	ECU	56
118	Vanuatu	VUT	56
119	Indonesia	IDN	55
120	North Macedonia	MKD	54
121	Zambia	ZMB	54
122	Equatorial Guinea	GNQ	54
123	Montenegro	MNE	53
124	Nicaragua	NIC	53
125	Turkmenistan	TKM	53
126	French Polynesia	PYF	53
127	Bosnia & Herzegovina	BIH	53
128	Sierra Leone	SLE	52
129	Belize	BLZ	52
130	Mexico	MEX	52
131	Philippines	PHL	52
132	Papua New Guinea	PNG	51
133	Mauritius	MUS	51
134	El Salvador	SLV	51
135	Kuwait	KWT	51
136	Costa Rica	CRI	51
137	Lesotho	LSO	51
138	Suriname	SUR	51
139	Cuba	CUB	49
140	Chad	TCD	49
141	Eswatini	SWZ	48
142	Bangladesh	BGD	48
143	Gambia	GMB	47
144	Bahrain	BHR	45
145	Myanmar	MMR	45
146	Puerto Rico	PRI	45
147	Tonga	TON	44
148	Guyana	GUY	44
149	Comoros	COM	44
150	Uzbekistan	UZB	44
151	Maldives	MDV	43
152	Gabon	GAB	43
153	Guinea	GIN	43
154	Türkiye	TUR	42
155	Guatemala	GTM	42
156	Burkina Faso	BFA	42
157	Venezuela	VEN	42
158	Honduras	HND	41
159	Fiji	FJI	41
160	Senegal	SEN	38
161	Saudi Arabia	SAU	36
162	Sri Lanka	LKA	36
163	India	IND	35
164	Libya	LBY	35
165	Tajikistan	TJK	33
166	Western Sahara	ESH	33
167	Samoa	WSM	33
168	Oman	OMN	32
169	Tunisia	TUN	30
170	Nepal	NPL	30
171	Mauritania	MRT	27
172	Pakistan	PAK	26
173	Sao Tome and Principe	STP	23
174	Somalia	SOM	22
175	Morocco	MAR	21
176	Djibouti	DJI	20
177	Egypt	EGY	16
178	Algeria	DZA	15
179	Jordan	JOR	15
180	Iran	IRN	15
181	Syria	SYR	14
182	Iraq	IRQ	11
183	Afghanistan	AFG	5
184	Yemen	YEM	5
N/A	World	WRLD	55

Meanwhile, many middle income countries (India, Nepal) only have one-third of eligible working age women actively employed or looking for work.

This trend solidifies when looking at middle income countries where culturally, women are expected to place familial duties above outside professional or personal ones (Egypt, 16%).

Economic Development and Women Working

In low-income countries, women often work in subsistence agriculture, where labor is crucial for survival.

Then, in middle income countries, labor moves away from survival and towards industry. Here, societal norms may discourage women from working.

But coming around, in high-income countries, education, childcare services, and a services-based economy broaden opportunities for women to work.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

Part of Europe’s higher women workforce participation rate is the effect it has on children being born, as the opportunity cost of not working rises. Check out creator Arcioman’s Mapped: When Does a Woman Have Her First Child to see correlations.

The post Mapped: The Countries Where the Most Women Work in 2025 appeared first on Visual Capitalist.

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