Female Labor Participation - Ranking 1994
In 1994, Burundi (88.08%), Mozambique (86.91%), and Tanzania (84.28%) ranked highest in female labor participation among all countries. Iraq ranked lowest at 8.71%.
Data & analysis
- Madagascar — 82.91
- Solomon Islands — 82.34
- Nigeria — 80.70
- Tanzania — 80.28
- Burundi — 79.50
The 2025 World Bank data on female labor participation reveals a stark global divide, with the top five positions entirely occupied by Sub-Saharan African nations. Madagascar leads at 82.913%, followed closely by the Solomon Islands at 82.337% and Nigeria at 80.7%. These high rates are bound by structural realities: in economies with large agricultural and informal sectors, women’s labor is essential for household survival, often in low-productivity subsistence work. At the bottom, Yemen languishes at 4.663%, alongside Afghanistan at 5.086% and Iraq at 10.937%. This extreme lag stems from deeply entrenched legal and social restrictions that systematically exclude women from formal employment. As the data reflects the contemporary era, the leaderboard could be reshuffled if sustained investments in female education and formal-sector job creation occur across Sub-Saharan Africa, or if policy reforms in the Middle East and South Asia begin to dismantle barriers to women’s workforce entry.
| Rank | Country | Value | YoY % |
|---|---|---|---|